Heartbreak on the Plains: We’ve Seen this Scenario Before
Mississippi State heads to Auburn this week in a huge game. It’s a game between two teams that many in the media and fans around the SEC have written off in the SEC West, but it’s very important for each of them. It acts almost a divisional elimination game….in Week 4.
Auburn looks bad. They beat Louisville in the opener after letting them nearly come back in the game. Louisville is 0-3 this year. Then they needed overtime to beat Jacksonville State – the Gamecocks are a FCS teams and really should have won that game. Then LSU whipped them 45-21 in Baton Rouge, and it really wasn’t as close as that score indicates….which isn’t close.
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But we’ve seen this scenario before. In each of the last two trips to Auburn, MSU felt good about their chances but experienced losses – in the most excruciating ways.
2011
Despite facing the defending national champions, Auburn had lost so much talent from the previous season. They narrowly escaped Utah State in the opener and MSU was a ranked team, expected to do really well. The Dawgs were nearly a touchdown favorite in the game. But you know what happened – State got down early, and despite Chris Relf’s best efforts he was unable to complete the comeback, falling literally inches short.
2013
This time Auburn was coming off a disastrous 3-9 season. The feeling was MSU could steal one before Gus Malzahn had a chance to get his legs under him. It was Dak Prescott’s first start in a SEC game and a road game, and he played really well. State blew a number of chances and then allowed Auburn to win the game in the final minute.
It doesn’t really matter what the scenario is with Auburn as we head into this game. It’s really hard to win in Jordan Hare Stadium no matter what.
Auburn has a lot to prove. They’ll go back to the drawing board this week and seek to get back on track against MSU. This is a huge game for them. If they lose, things could get away from them in a hurry. If they win, they could really turn things around. It’s up to the Dawgs to ensure the former.