Another poor outing for Shon Coleman

AUBURN -- For yet another week against a talented defensive line, Shon Coleman struggled mightily.

Already having been dominated by Mississippi State's Preston Smith and Texas A&M's Myles Garrett, Coleman committed a pair of critical holding penalties in Auburn's 34-7 loss at Georgia, both wiping out would-be third-down conversions and leading to punts.

"What I can say is that Shon did not play very well last night and he knows that, especially in the pass protection," Auburn offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "No one cares more about that than Shon. He feels as badly about that as anybody.

"He got beat a couple of times and held and it brought back some big plays, but we still have a lot of confidence in Shon and his upside and his ability. The last two weeks he's struggled a little bit in pass protection. That's obviously going to be something he works hard on."

With Auburn facing third-and-six from its own 48-yard line early in the second quarter of a then tied game, Nick Marshall connected with Quan Bray for 17 yards but Coleman was called for holding. After a one-yard pass, Auburn punted.

After Auburn's defense came up with a stop to start the second half, Coleman again shot the offense in the foot. Marshall's 20-yard run on third-and-10 was erased and Auburn had to punt again, giving the Bulldogs the ball at their own 43-yard line and Georgia scored on the ensuing drive to make it 24-7.

"Shon knows. In that instance, Shon's like, 'Guys, that's on me,'" tight end C.J. Uzomah said. "We know he'll get it fixed. He's one of the best O-linemen that we have. He's a physical beast. He knows his technique. He said in the meeting, 'Alright, I just need to keep sliding back a little bit more, a little bit faster and get my hands on them quicker.' And we kind of just said, 'Shon's got that.' He's a kind of a big guy, so we don't really mess with him too much."

Lashlee wouldn't say if Coleman, who has started all 10 games at left tackle this season, would remain in the starting lineup.

"You're always going to play the best guy," Lashlee said. "There is a fine line between people wanting them to be comfortable as starters and they get too comfortable. We're 10 games into the season and we know who we have. We know what our options are. It's just going to be a matter of us as players and coaches manning up and performing better this week. That's all what we aim to do."

The 6-foot-6 310 pound Coleman, who was not available for interviews, wasn't the only Auburn offensive lineman called for holding.

Chad Slade was also penalized, though his infraction was far less costly.

"I think it's fair to say they won the line of scrimmage," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said, "and that's disappointing."