Coming off a bye week that was needed by the team, the coaching staff, and the fans, Auburn is back in action with a trip to Columbia, Missouri to take on the yellow Tigers.
Missouri is coming off an inexplicable trip to UMass and an easy win. The week prior, they were brought down to Earth on their trip to Texas A&M, a 41-10 loss. Two weeks before that, they needed overtime to beat a Vanderbilt team that had just lost to Georgia State.
One week before, they beat Boston College 27-17, in what was supposed to be a big win due to the Eagles’ recent win over Florida State. Since then, Boston College has losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech, who also lost to Vanderbilt.
I know that’s a lot of transitive property reasoning, but it all boils down to Missouri not being that great. They were overhyped last year, thought beating half of Ohio State in a bowl game meant something, and then somehow wins over an obviously not great Boston College, Vanderbilt (in OT), Murray State, and Buffalo warranted a Top 10 ranking.
They are one of those teams that takes a while to get praise, but when they get it, it’s hard for people to realize there was a reason it took a while to get that praise. They are an Arkansas or Ole Miss. They’ll be okay for a year or two, but they are what they are.
Missouri is at best a middle of the SEC team. Somehow their schedule always works out to where they can stack wins early and ride it out to a 3-4 loss season, and people still think they’re good.
But the story for this one is about Auburn. Despite a heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma and a mostly expected but somewhat respectable loss at Georgia, the Tigers did improve in both games. Moving from 4-5 turnovers a game to 1 total turnover over the last 2 games is major improvement for this team.
It’s been said over and over: with just 1-2 less turnovers against Cal and Arkansas, they were looking at 4-1 at worst through those first 5 home games. This is not a bad team. It’s just hard to win when the other team has the ball 4-5 more times than you.
We saw what Auburn can look like the last two games. When mistakes aren’t there, Auburn is good enough to beat anybody.
The trip to Missouri is one of those where I’d normally be worried if Auburn was 6-0 or the 2-4 that they are. It’s a road trip to a weird place we haven’t been many times. However, all the advantages are there for the taking.
It’s an 11am game on the road. Not that Missouri fans are known for creating a hostile environment in a stadium that features a grassy hill in one end zone, but it’s always better when you play in a quiet road venue. Whatever they drink up there (is it potato vodka?) won’t be drunk yet, therefore the crowd won’t be at their peak fandom.
Auburn is coming off a bye week. They needed a break. They needed a reset. They used this extra week to gameplan a Top 25 game (as stupid as their ranking is) that is very much winnable. Missouri just went to College Station and Massachusetts. They’ve been losing big and traveling to the northeast while Auburn has been preparing.
It’s a very favorable road trip for Auburn. They should be rested. They should be as prepared as a team can be midseason. They should be encouraged by the improvements they’ve experienced the last few weeks.
Payton Thorne will continue to lock in to his own receivers and throw two deep balls to further silence the quiet Missouri crowd, and then Jarquez & Co. will be fed the rest of the way. It will look a lot like the last time the Tigers traveled to Columbia when Jarrett Stidham put 51 on them.
This is the start of the 2nd half of the season. There are winnable games. This one will be won by Auburn to setup a strong back stretch.
Auburn 34, Missouri 17
