The Auburn football team lost another hard-fought battle this weekend on the road against the top-10 Ole Miss Rebels, but glimmers of hope shone through some of the darkness from the third consecutive loss.
When the Tigers’ offense faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs, they looked hopeless and lost. There was little to no blocking, redshirt freshman quarterback Robby Ashford threw away a fourth of his passes, and the running backs had nowhere to go throughout the game.
However, this weekend saw Tank Bigsby return to the field with a vengeance, recording 20 carries for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Jarquez Hunter carried the ball 10 times for 80 yards, marking a game where the Ashford-led offense managed to get the run game going.
Ultimately, Auburn football’s defense could not match the performance of the offense, and could not keep the Rebs from putting up 48 points to the Tigers’ 34. Although the offense saw definite improvement this week, what comes next for this struggling team?
With the bye week, the Tigers have two weeks until facing their next opponent, Arkansas, back in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Despite all the negative noise surrounding the program and head coach Bryan Harsin’s job security, the players have shown that they have not given up on their season despite the tough losses.
Bigsby emphasized that the team is going to continue to fight to have success, per Auburn Live:
"“We’ve got a week off and we’re going to put in the work and study our opponent, we have two weeks to study up,” Bigsby said. “When the time comes, we’re going to do what we have to do to get better and better… We have to do our jobs, limit the turnovers and we just have to go out and play ball. This team, we can do whatever we put our minds to, we just have to capitalize and keep pushing.”"
With three wins still needed to get Auburn football into a bowl game, the Tigers are going to have to play hard for the rest of the season. Their next matchup is on October 29 against the Razorbacks back on the Plains.