Last week, after beating Arkansas by 38 points, Auburn earned its certificate on the Honor Roll. That turned around in a hurry on an embarrassing day for head coach Hugh Freeze’s group.

He said it felt like a “bad dream.”

Auburn was stunned by New Mexico State on Saturday in a 31-10 upset loss at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The report card isn’t going to be pretty.

Offense: D

What a step backward this was.

After three weeks where Auburn’s offense had appeared to turn a corner, it reverted to the sputtering group during the opening seven games of the year.

Part of that was a New Mexico State defense that greatly threw Auburn out of its rhythm and forced Auburn to be one-dimensional passing the ball.

Auburn had 65 yards on 26 carries. That’s fewer than three yards per attempt. Payton Thorne had a high completion percentage (79%) but only threw for 148 yards.

Auburn tried earnestly to establish the run and it just never happened. It broke the whole rest of the offense off.

Auburn had the ball for just over 21 minutes. That’s not a lot of time. It averaged 4.7 yards per play. That’s not a lot of yards.

Auburn only picked up 11 first downs in the whole game. Auburn only had two drives the whole game that gained more than 18 yards.

It was a disaster for Auburn. Credit to New Mexico State’s defense.

Defense: D+

I’m giving the defense an ever-so-slight bit of credit here because it was hardly given a rest by the Auburn offense, again. Now, we have seen that happen over the course of Auburn’s season and the defense bailed Auburn out.

That didn’t happen Saturday.

Auburn had no answers for New Mexico State quarterback Diego Pavia and did not make the adjustments defensively coordinator Ron Roberts had frequently pulled off this year.

New Mexico State had a stretch of four consecutive scoring drives including three straight touchdown drives that put the game out of reach for Auburn long before the final whistle sounded.

The Aggies took several risks against Auburn including going for multiple fourth downs and running a fake punt. They all worked.

New Mexico State’s offense dictated this game and played a heavy ball control style. It held the ball for nearly 39 minutes. It exhausted Auburn’s defense.

Special teams: B-

Kick and punt returns for Auburn were essentially a non-factor. Not necessarily in a bad way, just nothing notable bad or good.

The biggest knock here is allowing the fake punt. Freeze said Auburn had discussed fake punts, but Auburn didn’t seem prepared.

Alex McPherson stayed perfect with a 48-yard field goal.

Oscar Chapman had a good day punting with four punts averaging 47.5 yards per punt. He had two punts over 50 yards and two punts landing in the 20s.

Special teams have been very reliable for Auburn all year.

Coaching: D

Auburn was outcoached. Simple as that.

For whatever reason, Jerry Kill may have Freeze’s number after now comfortably beating him two years in a row with Freeze at two different schools. New Mexico State had a better game plan for Auburn than Auburn did for New Mexico State.

The bigger knock on the coaches here the effort from their players. Auburn’s team didn’t appear ready. Coaches are going to be responsible for a performance like that as Auburn was clearly a team that had its mind set on the upcoming Iron Bowl.

Freeze tried to flash the warning signs. It didn’t work. Auburn paid the price, a $1.85 million price.

Overall: F

So if none of the individual grades are this low, why is the overall an F?

Well, this was a true failure for Auburn in the broad scope.

A loss like this is embarrassing. It isn’t one that means anyone needs to be fired. In year one with a developing team, it has more of a flukey feel than any sort of referendum.

But it also is inexcusable.

For Auburn to come in with so much positive energy and momentum and it all turn into a day like this with so much egg on its face? Not a good look. The $1.85 million going to New Mexico State after losing is a painful check to write.

This loss is going to live in on Freeze’s permanent record as head coach. He also has the chance to still right many of these wrongs.

For now though, this was a failure.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]