2026 GAME 7 REVIEW: Back To Earth

LSU 38 Auburn 17. Well that did not take long... the Auburn Tiger football team and fandom crashed back down to earth yesterday. The fans at least were flying high all week and the football team had to come into the game with some added confidence after the big win over Georgia. Unfortunately it looked like that big win never happened and things returned to the form this team had showed all year before the Georgia game. This loss does not erase the significance of last week however Auburn will still have to win one more game they are underdogs in for this to be a successful season.

First though yesterday... LSU not only won the game but every individual battle on the football field. I mean it looked like a complete mismatch much of the time. I do not think one Auburn player except maybe Elijah Melendez could start or even be in LSU's two-deep. This game was won way before it was ever played as LSU did a much better job of evaluation and recruiting. I mean it is not even remotely close and yes they had more money but if both teams had same amount I think LSU would still be far ahead. LSU was looking for the best while Auburn was bringing in South Florida players.

This fact continues to be my biggest doubt of this coaching staff and Auburn's complete football operation from the athletic director to the boosters and every one else. Auburn can accomplish something this football season if it can reach 7-5 however it will be expected to do more next season. I just do not see how this program will be able to do that even with a lot of improvement. An ELITE quarterback, offensive tackle, defensive tackle, edge rusher, and lock-down cornerback will cost a ridiculous amount along with the supporting cast and Auburn will be competing with a bunch of rich more successful schools willing to do whatever it takes to get the same players.

Auburn is NOT guaranteed to be good again like it has in its whole history. This is professional football now and badly run organizations stay bad for long periods of time and some never rise. You have to be even better at evaluation if you are not in the top tier and Auburn is not. I think Auburn must bring in a very good "general manager" or whatever the title is for the guy who runs evaluations and signs players. It cannot be Golesh's buddy from South Florida. In fact I see college football moving toward the athletic director more resembling the "president" of a professional team and hiring a "general manager" to run football.

Unfortunately Auburn has an ex-Mississippi State baseball coach running football and athletics and his impact is certainly being felt as Auburn much more resembles Mississippi State now. Alright back to the team and this season, I thought Auburn needed at least one big win, well check that is done. Next Auburn needs a winning season and not 6-6 and hoping to win a bowl game that a lot of players will skip making it a complete crap shoot. The unfortunate thing is that while everyone talks about what a joke low-tier bowl games are THEY ARE OFFICIAL GAMES AND COUNT ON YOUR RECORD.

Again as I have stated here before, both Harsin and Freeze got to 6-6 and went to bowl games only to lose them thus giving us a losing record that is counted in this streak. Notice in this current losing streak nobody differentiates losing seasons that include bowl games. The take away is you have to make it to 7-5 to ensure a winning season regardless of the stupid bowl game. That is what Auburn has to do. They will definitely get one more win in Samford for five wins. The next one everyone is counting is Arkansas but I, in this blog, was already counting Freeze beating New Mexico in 2023 and going 7-5, and yeah that did not happen.

Auburn can definitely lose to Arkansas if it plays against them like they did yesterday. Alex Golesh cannot let that happen. He HAS TO beat Arkansas at home especially after the LSU game where the team was not even competitive. He is really hurting himself playing so badly at home. The Southern Miss game was delayed because of weather and the team then played pretty sloppy, the Florida game was not near as close as the final score indicated and included a horrendous start similar to LSU, and finally the team looked asleep and barely got past Vandy.  Auburn has really not turned in a good performance at home yet, they desperately need to against Arkansas.

Also if you beat Arkansas and put in a good performance that hopefully gets the team in the best place to maybe beat State the next week. IF Auburn can somehow do that and beat Arky and State back-to-back they will then get Samford and then could go to Bama with a three game winning streak. I still do not think they will win but they will have the winning season and will be playing with house money at Bama and in the bowl game. Unfortunately they have to travel to Oxford this week and while Ole Miss did lose a tough game at Texas last night I think Trinidad Chambliss is the real deal and unfortunately I see me writing this same post next week...