Hope you weren’t holding your breath every time Auburn carried the ball after coughing it up twice in the fourth quarter late Saturday night. You might have passed out.
Maybe you did. Maybe you’re just coming to.
If so, you missed Auburn coming of age.
You missed Nick Marshall once again proving he can be the big-time SEC quarterback everyone projected him to be.
You missed the Tigers proving they’ve turned the corner.
You missed a defense that is just a handful of “trash plays” away from being really good.
You missed the biggest victory (so far) of Gus Malzahn’s “New Day” era.
Auburn was able to trip and fall, only to get up long enough to hold on to beat its first ranked opponent in 11 tries.
“This was a huge win for us, against a Top 25 team, at home,” Malzahn said.
You bet it was. Though, it wasn’t pretty.
With a chance to ice the game — two different times — in the fourth quarter, Auburn couldn’t get out of its own way. After a fumbled exchange between Marshall and Tre Mason and another fumble by Cameron Artis-Payne on a big run, it looked as if the Tigers’ magic had finally run out.
That’s when the defense stepped up again with a big interception by Ryan Smith and then two sacks during Ole Miss’ final drive to seal the victory.
This might have been the best defensive performance in the history of football by a team that gave up 464 yards. Seriously. Because when it mattered, Auburn’s defense made the plays.
“They held them,” Malzahn said of his defense, “and got the ball back for us.”
Twice.
That’s if you were able to hold on to see the finish.
If so, you saw this Auburn team do something it hasn’t been able to do in a long time: win a game in spite of costly mistakes.
Good teams are able to bounce back from bad plays. Good teams are able to take a shot in the mouth and not stay down. Good teams are able to turn the ball over twice late and still have enough character to fight and win.
Auburn proved Saturday that it’s a good team.
When’s the last time anyone on the Plains could say that?
Now they can.
And now, Auburn is two wins from becoming bowl eligible. And October just started.
The Tigers are all but guaranteed to get to six wins before the end of the month, with Western Carolina and Florida Atlantic on the schedule. Believe it.
Malzahn doesn’t want to think about the future, though. As a coach in this league, he can’t afford to.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” he said. “We’re not looking ahead.”
But we can. And we will.
Before November gets here, Auburn will be able to say it will be playing in late December or early January. That’s perhaps one of the biggest steps in this entire rebuilding process: getting back to the postseason.
Everyone knew Malzahn and his new staff would be able to give Auburn the boost it needed to rebound from last year’s dismal season. Heck, it couldn’t get any worse.
But no one knew how fast Auburn would get there, and how far it can go.
Saturday’s win over Ole Miss gave us a glimpse. It pulled back the curtain to show a good team that can struggle and still win.
A team that won’t quit.
A team that continues to get better.
You know, six wins might be underestimating this team.
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