AUBURN | Though they say they don't focus on what other teams are doing and hone in on doing their jobs, Auburn players are still aware of the SEC West's chaos right now. With Alabama's defeat at Texas A&M coupled with Auburn losing to Georgia, each team in the division now has at least one loss. It makes for a spot in Atlanta as wide open as ever.

Still, Bryan Harsin's mentality seeps into the brains of both Derick Hall and Keiondre Jones.

"It's eye-opening to see that everything is wide open, but yeah, 1-0 for us this week, 1-0 the week after that, the week after that," Jones said. "Every day, that's what we need to focus on right now."

Hall answered the question similarly.

"We're always focused on us," he said. "It's really nothing about any other team."

Sure, okay. Harsin will be happy with those responses, but the Tigers still control their own destiny in the SEC West with half of the season gone. The stretch that began these past two weeks with matchups against LSU and Georgia doesn't get any easier, though. This Saturday, Auburn takes on Arkansas in Fayetteville. Then, a high-powered Ole Miss offense comes to the Plains. Finally, a trip to College Station to play a Texas A&M team that looked nothing like the one that lost to the Razorbacks and Mississippi State.

Come out of this slate unscathed, and two games in which the Tigers will be favorites – vs. Mississippi State and on the road at South Carolina – arrives. Win those, and a likely winner-take-all game against Alabama will occur in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 27.

The opportunity, albeit a difficult task, is there for the Tigers' taking. Despite the players' eyes staying directly on the Razorbacks, a tiny part of their brains realizes what is at stake.

"I think it's really resonating in guys' heads," Hall said. "Just be able to do that day in and day out, once again, we'll have an opportunity to play for an SEC championship. That's huge for us."