Another week, another ranked team on Auburn’s schedule. In what will be Auburn’s 7th game, they will have played 4 ranked teams, 3 of them having been in the Top 10 at some point this season. They will have played 3 road games, this will be their 4th home game.
Missouri leaves their stadium for the first time this season. How does that happen? Yes, Auburn has had a few seasons of 5 straight home games to start the season – they were going to have that next year until it was decided that Atlanta fans are more important than home games – but Missouri literally played the entire 1st half of their season at home.
I’m going to try and keep this point short, but I know everybody will play around 6-8 home games every season and it all evens out. But if you start your season with the entire 1st half at home, you are given a chance to work issues out in the friendly confines of your home. And when you do that with 1 ranked team in those 6, it sets you up better prepared for the rest of the season.
In Auburn’s case, when you travel to the states of Texas or Oklahoma 3 out of your first 5 games, and two of those are against Top 10 teams, you are given zero chance to work out kinks, and likely suffer some losses which puts you behind the 8-ball the rest of the season.
Again, college football schedules will never be totally fair, but that’s a massive difference. It should semi-even out by the end, but the point remains: losing games 3 and 4 on the road puts you in a different place than the team that gets their first losses in games 7, 8, 9, and 10 on the road. Anyway, it’s about vibe and trajectory.
Now let’s look at who Missouri has played in their first six games all at home. They started with Central Arkansas, then pretended to have a big game because it was an old rivalry with Kansas, then Louisiana (formerly Louisiana-Lafayette), then had a big 29-20 victory over now 3-3 South Carolina, then hosted UMass, then finally played Alabama.
I don’t know or care how good Missouri really is or can be. They haven’t left home. The only adversity they’ve experienced is a game against Alabama with the shadows of construction over their really cool grass hill at their backs.
They saw a somewhat real team last week and lost. Their greatest RB of all time was pedestrian. Their defense was plain.
Auburn has found many ways to play half-good enough and lose. Sometimes it’s their fault. Sometimes it’s not.
At this point, something has to go Auburn’s way. The night game atmosphere at Auburn is the best in sports. The good fans show up and fill up Jordan-Hare and deserve more than what the universe is giving them.
Notice I didn’t say anything about what Hugh or the team is giving them because Hugh and the team are experiencing what the universe is giving the fans as well.
It’s another winnable game where Auburn has better players at multiple positions, and it’s Jordan-Hare after dark. It’s time.
The 1st half will look a lot like the Georgia game without the egregious officiating. The 2nd half will be better than last week’s, and it will still be a close one because breaking the seal is always a gradual process.
Jeremiah Cobb will have 3 touchdowns because he wants to be here.
Auburn 24, Missouri 18
