And on the eighth week, Auburn rested.

The Tigers faced a seven-game gauntlet starting the season, including the last two matchups on the road, before reaching a much-needed bye week that, per senior Derick Hall, will prove helpful for the entire team.

"The bye week was beneficial for us after playing seven weeks of ball," he said. "Recovery was huge; we think Coach Harsin did a great job making sure this team recovers and gets back healthy, and that's going to be beneficial for us."

Possibly no one needed the recovery time more than Hall and the rest of Auburn's defense, who was on the field for 88 plays against the Rebels, including a boggling 85 for Hall. A week before against Georgia, Jeff Schmedding's unit faced 71 snaps against the Bulldogs. Needless to say, there were some tired Tigers going into last week's off week. It was also a time for the players to look at what had gone wrong during the 3-4 start.

"We've got some guys nicked up and bruised up," Owen Pappoe said. "Just a good time for us to get healthy and do a lot of self-reflection. Just looking in the mirror, viewing things that we did wrong from the beginning of the season and knowing what we need to attack last week in practice."

Things won't get any easier this Saturday against Arkansas as the Razorbacks rank 17th in moving the chains, averaging 25.1 first downs a game, while the Tigers are 105th, getting just 18 per game. This means more time on the field for Auburn's defense, which has become the norm as the Tigers' offense continues to struggle to sustain long drives.

Pappoe feels like his teammates are ready for the challenge after getting away from football for a moment.

"It was a breath of fresh air," Pappoe said. "We had a little break too. Got to go home, see fam and all that. Everybody here is refreshed, and we're ready to go now.