The fourth quarter had just gotten underway and the Auburn Tigers were trailing the 13th-ranked team in the country by just one score when the Auburn offense eyed a 3rd-and-1 situation deep inside its own territory.

However, instead of drawing something up and hoping it could surge ahead for a 1-yard gain, the Auburn offense broke the huddle with 12 players, drawing a 5-yard illegal substitution penalty — turning a 3rd-and-1 into a 3rd-and-6.

Just like that, Auburn had made an already hard situation even harder for itself.

On the ensuing play, running back Jarquez Hunter rushed for just three yards, forcing Auburn to punt the football on 4th-and-3 from inside its own 35-yard line.

“The margin for us between winning and losing right now is so small that you can’t mess those up,” said Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze after Saturday night’s 28-21 loss to Ole Miss.

Auburn has been allergic to finding success on critical downs all season long, with the issue becoming especially evident on Sept. 30 as the Tigers narrowly fell to the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at home.

While Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne and Auburn’s receivers struggled to connect for completions, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck had no trouble finding tight end Brock Bowers in the fourth quarter, paving the way for the Bulldogs’ come-from-behind win.

But it was the fact that both those issues mounted on third and fourth downs that really jabbed at Auburn’s side. The Tigers’ offense combined for a 3-for-15 effort on third and fourth downs, while the Auburn defense allowed Georgia to go 8-for-13 in the same category that afternoon.

“You look at our third-down offense and you look at our third-down defense, and I think that’s where the game was lost for us,” Freeze said after the loss to Georgia.

And from that point forward, Auburn’s success – or lack thereof – on late downs was said to have received a lot of attention during the bye week, which came between Auburn’s game against Georgia and its game against LSU.

Defensively, Freeze asserted that the Tigers were too predictable on third down.

Meanwhile, Freeze said Auburn’s third-down offense just needed fixing. Period.

However, neither of those things – regardless of how much attention they received – seemed to have been improved upon in Auburn’s loss to LSU last week or in its loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night.

When Freeze was interviewed by ESPN in the first half of Saturday’s game, he once again harped on the importance of finding success on late downs.

“We have to stop their explosive plays on defense, and we have to continue to convert third and fourth down,” Freeze told ESPN after the first quarter. “I think that’s going to be the stat for us.”

And if that’s the stat that Saturday’s game hinged on, it’s no wonder the Tigers found themselves on the losing end of the stick.

Auburn’s offense was 6-for-17 when trying to convert on third or fourth down. And while that was better than Auburn’s opponent – whose offense converted just four of 15 attempts on third or fourth down – it was how the Tigers’ late-down struggles unfolded that seemed to sting the most.

At the end of Auburn’s first offensive drive, quarterback Robby Ashford and the Tigers were faced with a 4th-and-1 situation near midfield and Freeze decided to gamble early, keeping the punt team on the sideline – after all, the game was young, Jordan-Hare Stadium was juiced and the Tigers needed just one yard.

However, that one yard proved too much for the Auburn offense as Ashford’s rush up the middle was stuffed for no gain, turning the ball over on downs and giving the Ole Miss offense a short field for its first possession of the night.

And though the field was just 52 yards long, a slew of penalties and some nice plays from the Auburn defense first forced the Ole Miss offense into a 3rd-and-17 situation, followed by a 3rd-and-22 situation and later a 4th-and-1 situation.

The Rebels’ offense converted each of those en route to the endzone to take an early 7-0 lead over the Tigers.

“We continue to lose the battles on third and fourth down and that’s disappointing,” Freeze said after Saturday’s loss.

The key word there being “continue”.

Prior to Saturday night’s game, the Auburn offense ranked 110th out of 133 FBS teams with a third-down conversion rate of just 33.33% – a mark that ranks last in the SEC. On 4th down, the Tigers’ conversion rate sat at 41.67% – a mark good for 99th in the country.

Meanwhile, Auburn’s third-down defense ranked 69th in the nation coming into Saturday night, with the Tigers allowing their opponents to convert 38.67% of the time.

So yeah, Saturday’s struggles on late downs were nothing new. But when Freeze was asked point-blank why Auburn continues to struggle in the same areas on Saturdays, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

“I can’t answer the exact why,” Freeze said. “Combination.”

But what Freeze does know – or believes, at least – is the fact that many of the issues as they relate to Auburn’s lack of success during critical downs falls on his shoulders.

“Regardless of whether you may be the most talented team on a certain night, you certainly can be well-coached in critical areas and critical downs,” Freeze said.

“I’ve got to do a better job to make sure we don’t make those mistakes in those areas. And I don’t know that it makes the difference in the game, but it sure feels like it. We’ve gotta convert those critical downs.”