AUBURN | It’s now or never for Auburn’s 2024 season.

After a 2-4 start and a much-needed bye week, the Tigers return to action Saturday at No. 19 Missouri. If there’s going to be any sort of a turnaround, it needs to begin right here and now.

“This is the one, man,” said senior tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. “We got a bye week after the first six games, got to rest and recover. These next six games that we’re going to go into is going to show the real Auburn.

“We’re going to go out there and play hard for this team, this school and for the fans."

Auburn, which has lost three consecutive conference games, has struggled with turnovers and a lack of execution in critical moments on both sides of the ball.

It’s a team stacked with veterans that doesn’t know how to win.

“I think we’re doing a really good job of understanding that all of our mistakes are self-inflicted,” said senior linebacker Eugene Asante. “It’s very easy to do the blame game within ourselves too, especially when the results aren’t there.

“If we have that mindset that we’re going to look inward and evaluate our mistakes, I think that makes us a way better team.”

Two of the major focuses during the off-week were developing ways to get more touches for senior running back Jarquez Hunter, and to bring more certainty to those critical moments.

“Are we really, really sure, from everybody in this room, that you feel really, really good about your kids executing this against all these different looks we may or may not see on this given play, particularly on these critical down calls,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “Let's go back and watch it again for the third time this morning on three different deals.

“If we have a critical down, it will be very, very, very, very disheartening and infuriating if another situation happens on a fourth-and-1 or a third-and-1 where our kids don't have a clear understanding of what should happen.”

Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.