AUBURN | Players were getting healthy and returning to practice, the team was on a roll and gearing up to make a late-season run.

Auburn came into its bye week with a lot of momentum, which has now come to a screeching halt. Nine players and three staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 causing Gus Malzahn to suspend football activities including practice.

“Of course our coaches are preparing, but we're just going to take it day by day and get this thing under control,” Malzahn said. “We knew this year that there would be some challenges. I've told our team that hey there's going to be a week that we could have some challenges.

“We'll get through this but the No. 1 thing is making sure we get this thing under control before we get back in a routine. I feel real strong we'll be able to do that in a short period of time.”

Malzahn also confirmed that a “handful” of players had been in close contacts with the players and coaches that tested positive, which means they’ll have to sit out 14 days before returning.

The coaches and players are meeting remotely via Zoom as they prepare for the Tennessee game Nov. 21.

It’s Auburn’s first positives since the week of Sept. 12. Malzahn is hopeful the lessons learned from a double-digit outbreak during preseason practice will help the Tigers navigate the latest outbreak.

“Having two weeks off, there's no doubt you worry about timing and all that,” Malzahn said. “But I really believe last week, the three practices we had were very efficient. They were very clean. And so hopefully we can get back fairly soon this week and get that timing back. But I don't look at it as a negative. Our guys, they'll be ready to go.”

The outbreak hasn’t been traced to any one event, but Malzahn said bye weeks have proved difficult throughout the SEC.

“I think you can see around the league that any time you get out of your routine, that's what you're finding,” Malzahn said. “There's not one single thing or single person or anything like that. I just think it's getting out of the routine.”

The SEC has seen a spike in positive test over the past week. Auburn’s game against Mississippi State this Saturday had already been postponed due to a large outbreak in the Bulldogs’ program. LSU and Texas A&M have also had positive cases this week and Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman tested positive and won’t be able to coach Saturday’s game at Florida.

Auburn and MSU officials were in contact with each other and the SEC office throughout the week. MSU fell below the threshold of 53 available scholarships players and Malzahn was concerned about AU’s numbers too.

"We were talking through that, you know, just with the administration to see if we would have enough to play. So it was at least in the conversation that we were talking before we found out about Mississippi State,” Malzahn said.