AUBURN | When the losses start piling up and it seems like all the breaks go against you, it’s easy to hang your head and lose a little confidence.

That’s certainly the case for Auburn, which is off to a 2-4 start and coming off three consecutive losing seasons.

The Tigers were hoping to take a step forward in Hugh Freeze’s second season at the helm, but it just hasn’t clicked on either side of the ball just yet.

Auburn’s team leaders are determined to turn that around for the second half of the season and it starts by going out and playing with more confidence.

“Having fun. I've said that many times. If you look at the tape, we're just too tight,” said senior linebacker Jalen McLeod. “We're scared. We're scared to mess up. We can't be scared to mess up. We've just got to go out there and play. Because when you're scared to mess up, you're going to mess up.

“So we've got to go out there and have fun. The defense, we've got too much talent not to have fun. We have to celebrate with each other. We've just got to have fun, and come together.”

The Tigers have led or been in tight games into the second half of all four losses. All it might take is a big play or two to spark Auburn at No. 19 Missouri this weekend and perhaps a big road win to spark the team for the rest of the season.

“I think it can flip really quick,” said senior linebacker Eugene Asante “Confidence really does come from winning and having good tape and going out there and playing well. I do believe if we can get one it would build a spark within this team that it really needs at this moment.”

Auburn is coming off a bye week while Missouri is returning home after two consecutive road games including a blowout loss at No. 14 Texas A&M and a blowout win at UMass.

“We got our bodies rested and we had to make sure we got our minds right and know we've still got a chance to make something of the season,” said McLeod. “It's not the prettiest, you've seen it, but we know we can turn it around and get somewhere, to a bowl.”

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