No. 7 Auburn suffers first loss of season at No. 10 Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WSFA) - In one of the sloppiest games of the year, the Auburn Tigers and the Florida Gators combined for eight turnovers. Points were scored, somehow, and it was No. 10 Florida (6-0, 3-0) coming out on top 24-13 over No. 7 Auburn (5-1, 2-1).

Halloween is still 26 days away but the first half was a horror show. Both teams combined for five turnovers, including four lost fumbles. Florida took a 17-13 lead into half.

Auburn had three first downs all of the entire game until the third quarter. They picked up three first downs on one drive at the end of the third quarter, but that drive ended in Bo Nix’s second of three interceptions in the game.

It was Nix’s worst game of the season by far. The freshman threw for just 145 yards while completing just 11 of his 27 pass attempts. He did, however, throw a 32-yard touchdown strike to Seth Williams in the second quarter. The strike came on the first play following a failed fake punt attempt by the Gators.

Neither team was able to make a dent in the score in the third quarter, but they did combine for five punts and Nix’s interception towards the end of the period.

Leading 17-13 in the early moments of the fourth quarter, after an Auburn punt pinned the Gators inside their own 20, Florida’s Lamical Perine took the handoff from quarterback Kyle Trask and went 88 yards on the first play of the drive for the touchdown.

Perine’s score would give the No. 10 Gators a 24-13 lead and that score would hold until the clock hit triple-zeroes.

Continuing the sloppy play discussion, combined, Auburn and Florida converted just 6 of 29 third downs. Auburn had several third-and-short situations they did not convert. Four times the Tigers had five or fewer yards to gain on third down and could not convert. Three of those four instances were 3rd and 1.

Auburn put up just 269 total yards of offense and had nine penalties for 70 yards.

The Auburn Tigers now head into a bye week. After the bye, they will take on the Arkansas Razorbacks Oct. 19 on the road in Fayetteville. A kick time has not been set yet.

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