Auburn Is Still In the Championship Hunt

Make no mistake, Auburn is still a very good football team. Auburn is still very much in the mix for the SEC championship and the College Football Playoff.

Even with one loss, and ranked sixth in the AP Poll, Auburn can still make a push for a playoff bid.

Don’t be deceived by the 38-23 score. Auburn is, I repeat, still a very good football team.

A 38-23 loss is what happens when every possible thing that could go wrong goes wrong. That includes turnovers, bad penalties, and an inability to capitalize on your opponent’s mistakes.

But a look at the box score without knowing the final tally would indicate a closer contest.

If you checked the stats, you’d notice Auburn’s 441 total yards to Mississippi State’s 469. You’d see four turnovers for each team. You’d see roughly the same amount of penalty yardage, and barely a two minute difference in time of possession.

Auburn even outrushed State (barely), 232 yards to 223. And they even picked up one more first down along the way.

Yet they lost by 15.

The difference in the game was not the mistakes or penalties themselves, but when they happened.

Auburn turned the ball over three times in its own territory, all of which led directly to Mississippi State touchdowns. Two of those turnovers were given away on Auburn’s first two offensive plays of the game.

Just like that, two minutes in, Auburn was down 14-0. Does that remind anyone of a rainy game last season?

In the fourth quarter, down 31-20, Auburn was receiving a kickoff right after forcing the Bulldogs to settle for a field goal at the goal line. It was Auburn’s chance to make it a one-possession game with a touchdown.

But they never got the chance. Ricardo Louis fumbled the ball fighting for more yardage on the return. The Bulldogs recovered it, and two plays later, put the game out of reach with a final touchdown.

Auburn’s fourth turnover was an interception inside the Mississippi State 15-yard line with under five minutes to go. Nick Marshall had his arm hit from behind, the throw was short, and it was picked off at the goal line.

Every single one of Auburn’s turnovers was deadly. They killed offensive drives, and gave Mississippi State easy opportunities no one can afford to give them.

And don’t even get me started on the penalties. Now that I’ve had a day or so to let the loss sink in, and start thinking about it rationally, I understand why most of the calls were made.

Most of them.

A couple were frustrating, like the pass interference call on Auburn’s Jonathan Jones in the fourth quarter when State decided to go for it on fourth down and eight at the Auburn 26-yard line (why, I have no idea). The penalty led to a Mississippi State field goal.

In the first quarter, a holding penalty on left tackle Shon Coleman nullified a 27-yard completion to Duke Williams. It was Auburn’s first big offensive play of the game.

In the second quarter, Sammie Coates took two (literally two) steps out of bounds in the back of the end zone before catching a touchdown pass. The illegal touching penalty wiped away the touchdown grab. Auburn settled for a field goal.

But the one that I still can’t wrap my head around could be pointed to as the breaking point for Auburn on Saturday.

Early in the third quarter, Nick Marshall completed a pass to Sammie Coates for 68 yards to the Mississippi State 2-yard line. It was a great play and would have given Auburn a fast start to the second half, possibly bringing the score to 28-20.

Unfortunately, the officials didn’t see it the same way. Coates was called for offensive pass interference, taking away a scoring opportunity for Auburn and killing a drive.

I’m not a trained collegiate official, but I didn’t see anything in the play that would qualify as interference. Both players had a hand on each other, and neither of them pushed off.

It should have been a no-call. Period.

I’m not saying that Auburn would won, or even come back to tie the game later had that penalty not been called, but it’s the perfect example of how the entire game went for Auburn.

No matter what the Tigers did, they just couldn’t catch a break. It seemed like Auburn never got a 50-50 call, and all of their penalties were backbreakers.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not blaming the refs at all. Auburn repeatedly shot itself in the foot, and did not play like they deserved to win. The penalties just didn't help.

Mississippi State converted third downs into sustained drives and red zone trips into touchdowns. Auburn didn’t.

Mississippi State turned four Auburn turnovers into 21 points. Auburn turned four Mississippi State turnovers into just 13 points.

The difference in the game was Mississippi State’s ability to capitalize on Auburn’s mistakes.

All in all, Auburn played the worst game it could have, and still had plenty of chances to win. While Auburn never felt in control of the game, they were also never completely out of it.

A comeback, while highly unlikely and constantly prevented by Auburn miscues or untimely penalties, was always a possibility.

But penalties and careless mistakes in critical moments cost Auburn dearly in a hostile environment.

Auburn went into Starkville against a Mississippi State team that is on a roll and in sync right now, and as they proved on Saturday, you can’t beat them on their home field with a multitude of careless mistakes.

The Bulldogs are experienced, talented, hungry, led by a spectacular Heisman candidate at quarterback, and most importantly, really believe they can win a championship.

Who knows? Maybe they are this year’s 2013 Auburn Tigers.

But this year’s Auburn Tigers have a ton of potential themselves. And they’ll learn from this loss; they always do.

Don’t overreact to the loss. Auburn played easily its worst game in over a year, and still found a way to make possibly the best team in the nation nervous on their home field.

There’s always a silver lining in every loss, no matter how frustrating or disappointing it is. So take this to heart: Auburn fell down 21-0 early, but they didn’t stay down.

That’s been the story of Auburn under Gus Malzahn. They will not ever stay down.

Everything imaginable went wrong for them, they made some pretty stupid mistakes, and still put up 23 points on a very talented team. They still fought back, they never gave up.

This season is far from over, and we all learned last year that you can never count out the Auburn Tigers.

Make no mistake, when Auburn plays its best game, there’s no one they can’t beat.