Auburn almost had it. They forced overtime vs. Arkansas after a last minute drive ended with a field goal to make it 24-24. Wide receiver Ricardo Louis helped get them there with a pair of ridiculous catches to keep the drive alive.
Preseason SEC favorite Auburn is now last in the SEC West standings
A four-overtime loss to Arkansas is the latest chapter in a truly disappointing season for the Tigers.
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Once the teams got to overtime, they couldn’t miss. They exchanged touchdown for touchdown all the way into the fourth overtime, including through a third overtime that required both teams convert two point attempts. Arkansas went up by eight to make it 54-46, and the Tigers couldn’t get a first down on fourth-and-nine to keep their chances alive.
With the loss, Auburn drops to 4-3 and 1-3 in conference, last place in the SEC West. You’ll remember, of course, that the Tigers were picked at SEC Media Days to win the conference (while not being picked to win the SEC West, somehow).
Before this game, Auburn was ranked 77th and 85th, respectively, in Offensive and Defensive S&P+, a far cry from their high flying numbers of recent years, especially on offense. For the sake of comparison, Auburn was fourth in Offensive S&P+ just a year ago.
Over the past calendar year, Auburn is a .500 football team. They’re 4-3 this year, and finished last year 3-4 including their bowl loss to Wisconsin. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see everyone got carried away with the preseason hype surrounding Auburn, but it’s gotten well past the point of disappointment relative to expectations. This team has very real problems. Will Muschamp didn’t instantly fix the defense, and it’s going to take time for him to do so, if he even does at all.
Auburn may not finish the season in last place. Outside of their loss to LSU, they haven't been blown out by anyone, and Sean White has shown promising signs since replacing Jeremy Johnson at quarterback. But outside of a game against Idaho, there doesn't appear to be any games left on their schedule where they'll be favored. They may win a couple more games, but that won't be enough to paper over the cracks.
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