An exhausted Bryan Harsin let out an audible sigh before answering a question on Auburn’s scoring woes Saturday after the Tigers lost 42-10 against No. 2 Georgia.

“I wish I had the answer for that. Alright? I really do,” Harsin told reporters. “If I did, we would fix those things. I think part of the struggle is you’re playing good teams. Part of the struggles are self-inflicted things we’ve done to ourselves.”

One of the biggest issues for the Tigers was getting called for 10 penalties for 60 yards. Auburn had several false start penalties during the game, which put the team in challenging situations on third down.

“It’s freaking frustrating,” Harsin said. “It is. It’s frustrating as hell. And you don’t know why. I mean, that’s one of the things, too; it happens like it’s not changing in the game. And right or wrong, you can argue it all you want. But it’s not going to change the outcome right there in that moment. So you’ve got to respond to that. And, you know, we’ve been saying it too: first and 10, second and five is different than second and 15. Right? First and 15.”

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Auburn didn’t cross the 50-yard line on offense until late in the second quarter, down 14-0. Despite the struggles, there was a chance for the Tigers to close the gap before halftime. Auburn had 10 first downs and punted nine times against Georgia.

Two of Auburn’s 10 first downs came on a drive that started on the Tigers’ 29-yard line with a little over eight minutes left in the first half. Robby Ashford connected with John Samuel Shenker for a 13-yard pass, and Shenker caught a nine-yard pass to the UGA 48 for another first down.

Ashford fumbled at the Georgia 41-yard-line with 4:42 on one of the Tigers’ rare drives that got some yards.

“I don’t know if he just dropped it or somebody knocked it out. I was kind of watching something else. I just saw the ball come out,” Harsin said. “So, either way, it’s a turnover. And those are costly, and that’s been something that, you know, everybody knows that, too. No one’s trying to put the ball on the ground. You want to take care of it. But that becomes a big factor in games.”

Perhaps the slow-moving offense led to Harsin attempting a fake punt with 25 seconds left in the first quarter with the ball on Auburn’s 34-yard-line. Auburn needed six yards, but Shenker gained two yards.

“We knew tonight was going to be a challenge offensively with their defense, so any positive yards we could get and extension of drives, that was a chance for us to do that, in that field position as well, because they weren’t going to be in safe;” Harsin said. “They were going to give us a chance with that look, and they did give us the look. They out-executed us in that moment right there, but overall I thought we had a good design for that opportunity.”

Auburn’s defense kept the Bulldogs from scoring off the fumble. Turnovers have been an issue for Auburn throughout the 2022 season. Auburn has a -9 turnover ratio. They were even in turnovers against Georgia. But, missed an opportunity to pull within seven points in the second half.

Colby Wooden recovered a fumble by Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second half. Auburn got the ball at the Tigers’ 19 but failed to score in the red zone. Auburn settled for a 29-yard field goal by Anders Carlson.

“We have to score a touchdown in that situation,” Shenker said. “We had a chance and we didn’t capitalize.”

Auburn got outscored 7-3 in the third quarter. Bennett’s 64-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter put Georgia ahead 28-3. The long run by Bennett closed the door on the Tigers.

Jarquez Hunter caught a 62-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 35-10, but it was too little too late on another frustrating night for Harsin as the Tigers’ head coach.

“You know, we do some really, really good things at times, and then, you know, we just have some things that hurt us.,” Harsin said. And the consistency piece, that’s the key, right. And as you watch teams, and why they win, they’re consistent.”