The Auburn Tigers have struggled so far in the first month of the college football season. Entering October, the Tigers are 2-3 and a winless 0-2 in SEC play.
There are plenty of issues for the Tigers. Their quarterback play has been subpar. Hugh Freeze may not be better than Bryan Harsin. It’s hard to win at Auburn. The list can go on and on.
This week on Another Dooley Noted Podcast, seven-time SEC Coach of the Year Steve Spurrier offered another possibility: The Tigers are jinxed.
“OU beats Auburn. Poor Auburn. The Auburn quarterback, I don’t know if he got hit or the ball got tipped or whatever, but they got an interception and scored. The Auburn defense played super the whole game. I mean, they deserved to be winners and they got the pick-six at the end of the game. Auburn seems to be jinxed a little bit,” Spurrier noted via On3.
Could Spurrier be onto something? Two of Auburn’s three losses this year were one-possession games, and they had three such losses last season, including a 27-24 nailbiter against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl.
It is more likely that Auburn’s quarterback play is not good enough. Payton Thorne has gotten the bulk of the snaps for the Tigers this season and has gone 61-for-102 for 1,036 yards to go along with ten touchdowns and six interceptions, which is the most in the SEC. Hank Brown, who started Auburn’s 24-14 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks, is 27-for-43 for 403 yards and six touchdowns to go with three interceptions.
[On3]
