AUBURN | Four games into a most unusual college football season, Auburn sits at 2-2 and coming off a 30-22 loss at South Carolina, a team the Tigers hadn’t lost to since 1933.
Any preseason championship aspirations can probably be put to bed now. The sole focus has to be on navigating the next six conference games.
“We're just going to have to be big boys, and we're going to have to man up and put it behind us and go on to next week,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “And find a way to win and get that good feeling back and get some momentum.”
It’s already been a season of extreme ups and downs going all the way back to March when the players were sent home for three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and didn’t know when or if they’d return this year or if there would even be a college football season.
The Tigers won the opener against Kentucky, were beaten soundly at Georgia, won a tight one at home against Arkansas and then turned the ball over three times in a loss in which they out-gained the Gamecocks 481-297 in total yards.
“We got a lot of potential on offense and defense, special teams,” said senior wide receiver Eli Stove. “We just got to come together and have a better connection on offense. Defense looks solid.
“I think mainly it was on offense. We got to execute way better. We put them in a lot of bad spots. They had three interceptions inside the 50, so it’s kind of hard to play with that. We need to execute better on offense and improve every week.”
Stove is one of eight starters or key contributors that have missed a game or more this season. Auburn is also implementing a new offense under first-year coordinator Chad Morris and replacing four of five starters on an offensive line with first-year coach Jack Bicknell Jr. On the other side of the ball, the Tigers had to replace two high NFL Draft picks on the defensive line and are without All-SEC linebacker and team leader K.J. Britt for at least another month.
“Just stay close together, because we know there are a lot of people who are gonna be trying to divide us — from the media, people talking on Twitter and all that. We're just gonna stay together,” said linebacker Owen Pappoe.
Auburn returns to action at Ole Miss next Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on SECN.
