heading into this game we wondered whether Auburn would show off those offensive improvements that they've been discussing really all offseason long well instead they finished with 14 points for the second straight time against Cal only this time that was not enough to pull off the win disappointing you know I thought um you know hope we were further along I knew this would be a good test for us no matter what people said they're they're a very senior Laden football team and play extremely hard and are well coached the game started off promising enough for the Tigers as Payton Thorne marched them down the field and then Keandre Lambert Smith haul in this incredible tow drag touchdown but that touchdown more of an outlier than a sign of success to come Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza to complete 19 of 21 passes during the first half as he guided the Golden Bears to a 147 lead at the break if Auburn's offense was ineffective in the first half it was downright self destructive in the second Auburn finally rediscovers some Rhythm scoring with about 6 minutes left in the game Thorne rushing in their first touchdown since that opening drive but when they needed another score the turnover bug struck them again with 25 left Thorne gets picked off while trying to connect with Cam Coleman one-on-one then for the final nail in the coffin he has a miscommunication with Lambert Smith for his fourth interception of a day to forget I thought that you know me and Keandre hadn't talked on the sideline about that play and so he was expecting that post to be way down the field and with one high Zone you know I'm that's going to be just a jump ball and that's that's tough and so I was trying to fit it in there on like a bang post type deal and um I like like you said we're just on different pages there if there was a bright spot for the Tigers it was definitely the defensive line and most specifically keldrick Fulk he went off for a two sack and three tackle for lost game saying he was motivated to play for his father who passed away when he was young folk will be a key leader in helping this team get back on track as we inch closer to SEC play uh we got to learn how to how to deal with success and we got to learn how to deal with failure a failure is something a loss a loss is something you can learn from if you don't learn from it it's pointless now after the game a couple players mentioned that the energy and the effort just wasn't consistent at practice during the week well that's going to have to change in a hurry if the ti are going to show any sort of meaningful Improvement in year two under Hugh freeze with coverage you can count on I'm Trevor Denton way 31 Sports