COLUMBIA, Mo. | Some things in life are unexplainable. Some things don't make sense but keep happening over and over despite all the odds. This Auburn football team is one of those things.

You can excuse a bad team with a horrible roster for sitting at 2-5 on the season. But the Tigers aren't bad. You could point at injuries for causing a downturn, but besides a couple of players, Auburn is healthy. And you can blame youth, and the Tigers are playing some young kids, but that's not it either.

It's the ability to lose a game that you should win, and, like Oklahoma and Cal and Arkansas, this team blew it again against Missouri.

And, here's the indescribable thing: Auburn was getting the breaks it hadn't received all season. Brady Cook missed most of the game due to an injury, going to the hospital only to return and play comeback hero. A muffed punt by Luther Burden recovered for a touchdown gave the Tigers a 17-3 lead, and the defense was shutting the opposing Tigers with Drew Pyne at quarterback.

Everything looked extremely rosy for Hugh Freeze's squad after driving down the field using the running game and chewing up the clock in the third quarter up 17-6. On 1st and goal, Payton Thorne seemed to hit Robert Lewis in the hands, but the veteran wide receiver dropped what would have been a touchdown and sent many Mizzou fans heading for the exits.

But the Tigers had two more downs. This is where everything changed. On 2nd down, Thorne was sacked for 12 yards. On 3rd, Auburn played to get a more manageable field goal for Towns McGough. It didn't matter. He missed it. Of course, he did. That's how this season has played out.

Now, it's a massive gut check for this team following such a disappointing and heartbreaking loss that came during a depressing season. With a bowl game almost out of reach, do these players quit? Do they show up to practice with the same energy they did earlier in the season? Will some even start eyeing the portal?

It's all up for grabs with five games to go, and much like this season, no one has any idea how it will go.

It was an unexplainable loss in Columbia during an indescribable season. I've never covered a stranger team in my life.