For the third time this season, the Auburn Tigers lost a game that felt winnable, falling 27-21 to the No. 21 Oklahoma Sooners.

Auburn had the lead for most of the game, but a critical error in the fourth quarter cost the game.

Head coach Hugh Freeze takes much of the blame for this loss.

“It definitely stings,” Freeze said. “When you have the chance to win a game like this, I have to help my team get over the edge. I’m proud of these little kids, I thought they played really well and were starting to mature.”

In the fourth quarter, Auburn got a stop on fourth down, putting the offense back on the field with a two-possession lead. After a 22-yard run by Jarquez Hunter, ESPN put the Tigers’ chance of victory at 97.4%, but machines can’t predict Auburn going off the run and failing to run more than 90 seconds off the clock he misses a field goal.

“Run the football and take as much time as possible to score two points,” Freeze said, explaining what Auburn should have done in this situation. “That possession was definitely outstanding and we should have had ten more points in the first half. I have to make sure our kids do better in these situations. Protecting football 24/7 is a priority and we haven’t managed that particularly well.”

Despite performing better on the offensive side of the ball, Auburn has struggled to come out on top in these close games, a problem Freeze has no answer for. Just looking at the team stats, you would be shocked to see that Auburn didn’t win by three points.

They defeated Oklahoma 482 to 291, had 26 first downs to the Sooners’ 11 and controlled the clock 35:26 to 24:34.

“It was kind of a story,” Freeze said. “We significantly outperformed Arkansas last week, including today. We don’t win football games. We’re going to have to do something different to win these games when we’re able to produce the yards that we have. We’re not producing the points that that should bring to help the defense.”

Auburn hits the road for the first time next week, heading to Sanford Stadium to face the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT and television coverage can be found on ABC and ESPN+.