Guerry Clegg: Auburn's program headed in wrong direction

AUBURN, Ala. --

Whatever momentum Auburn gained by beating Kentucky two weeks ago is long gone.

Even after losing to Arkansas in four overtimes, there remained a chance to salvage something of this lost season.

So much for that. The Tigers' 27-19 loss Saturday to Ole Miss pretty well clinched this season as nothing short of a complete disaster.

In addition to beating Idaho, the Tigers must pull an upset in one of their remaining three SEC games just to become bowl eligible. Those opponents:

At Texas A&M -- Not likely.

Home against Georgia -- Just maybe.

Home against Alabama -- Not happening.

The optimist can point to the final score against the No. 19 Rebels and the fact that the Tigers had numerous opportunities to score more touchdowns and conclude this team is close to being very good. Auburn coach Gus Malzahn attempted to give the loss just that spin.

"I'll just say this: We can play with anybody, and I think everybody can see that," Malzahn said. "Now we have to figure out a way to take that next step and get a victory."

Nice try. But this is a team that nearly lost to Jacksonville State. Its only two wins over Power Five conference teams, Louisville and Kentucky, could just as easily have been losses.

Malzahn talked about how hard his team fought.

Since when did fighting hard and coming close provide any measure of satisfaction at Auburn? It's time to start looking at the bigger picture and wonder where this program is heading. Since a 19-3 start under Malzahn, the Tigers are 3-8 against FBS teams. Unless they pull an upset, that's likely to be 4-11 by the end of this month.

The fact that this was such a winnable game is exactly what makes losing it so inexcusable.

Let's be honest, here. Ole Miss didn't exactly turn in a stellar performance either. The Rebels had numerous drops and committed seven penalties.

Despite it all, they rolled up 558 yards offense -- 402 passing -- and ran 91 plays. They got down to the Auburn 5-yard line and had fourth-and-1 when they made the curious decision to have quarterback Chad Kelly run it. Another drive stalled when Kelly's pass squirted right through the hands of tight end Evan Engram and, fortuitously for Auburn, into the bread basket of cornerback Blake Countess.

So, yeah, it was a game Auburn could have won. But it was also one the Tigers could have been embarrassed.

The offensive game plan seemed to be haphazard at best. In fairness, both quarterback Sean White and running back Peyton Barber were hindered by injuries. White, a redshirt freshman, banged up his knee against Arkansas and wasn't a sure thing to even play. But the kid gutted it out.

"I wasn't a hundred percent, but I felt like I was good enough to go for my teammates and played hard," he said. "It's just frustrating."

The knee kept him from being able to step hard into some throws, but he wouldn't use it as an alibi for his sporadic play. He completed only 12 of his 28 passes.

"I will say I was able to go. No excuses," he said "I have to make a couple more throws."

If nothing else, White showed he has the makeup it takes to be a winning quarterback in the SEC. What's still unclear is whether he's a good fit for Malzahn's spread offense that relies primarily on running the ball. Most of their success Saturday came throwing the ball down field. Their only touchdown came on a nice deep ball to Ricardo Louis for a 45-yard strike.

But once inside the red zone, they seemed to have no answers. Their second-half scoring was limited to three Daniel Carlson field goals -- two after they had first-and-goal at the 5 and at the 3. The other came after they had a first down at the Ole Miss 12.

"It's frustrating. You want to win. It's extremely frustrating," White said. "We had a lot of opportunities to win. I definitely felt we could have won that game. They're a very, very good team, but there are no moral victories."

These days at Auburn, there are few victories of any kind.

-- Guerry Clegg is an independent correspondent. You can write to him at sports@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Auburn's program headed in wrong direction ."