Two months earlier, the Auburn-Kentucky game looked meaningless.
Of course Auburn, ranked near the top of the preseason polls once again, would trek up to Lexington for an unorthodox Thursday night game, trounce the Wildcats and return home to sit at the top of the SEC standings.
Of course coach Gus Malzahn would use Kentucky as a tune-up game. Of course Auburn wouldn't even blink at the thought of having to scrape out a win in a sold-out, raucous Commonwealth Stadium. Of course the defense, with Will Muschamp captaining the ship, would wipe the table with the bottom-dwelling Wildcats' offense.
Of course, none of that happened.
What did happen though, is once the blue-and-white dust settled on this October night, the Tigers may look at this win as the turning point in a once-lost season, a 30-27 win that propelled the turbulent Auburn program in the right direction.
"We probably played our best overall game of the year," Malzahn said. "On offense, we had some explosive plays for the first time all year, we actually got a rhythm ... we wanted to come out and have an aggressive mindset."
The offense racked up 407 yards, committed no turnovers and was 11-18 on third downs.
And on the other side of the ball, despite giving up a season-high 495 yards, the Auburn (4-2, 1-2) defense proved its mettle when it mattered most.
After Malzahn elected to punt on fourth and one from the Auburn 47-yard line, the Tigers were faced with stopping Kentucky quarterback Patrick Towles, who had lit up the Auburn defense through the air to that point to the tune of 310 yards.
But on fourth down, linebacker Justin Garrett knifed through the Wildcat offensive line, sacking Towles with 25 seconds left, allowing Sean White to kneel out the clock, snapping Auburn's streak of five consecutive losses in the SEC dating back to the 41-38 loss to Texas A&M in 2014.
White, named the starter on Wednesday night, had the best game of his short career, throwing for 255 yards on 17-27 passing, 154 of which went to newly crowned No. 1 receiver Ricardo Louis.
Louis was forced to take on the mantle of the go-to receiver with the departure of D'haquille "Duke" Williams, who was recently kicked off the team.
With Auburn having a bye the previous week, Louis was able to use the extra time off to get healthy, something he hasn't been able to do all season.
"A lot of things were hurting me," Louis said. "Leg problems, back problems, it was just nagging, and it wasn't allowing me to go full speed."
Although White was unable to throw his first collegiate touchdown pass, he led six scoring drives: three that ended in field goals and three in rushing touchdowns--one by freshman Kerryon Johnson and two by Peyton Barber--and he showed an improved grasp of the offense, as more deep pass plays were called compared to White's previous two starts.
"I wouldn't say it was anything special, like just opening it up completely," White said. "It was just going against different looks, a different gameplan a little bit, and that's just how it worked out."
After the game, bellows of joy and roars of elation could be heard reverberating through the corridors of the stadium, all coming from the Auburn locker room.
This win gives the Tigers, who are two wins shy of bowl eligibility, a glimmer of hope for the postseason.
They'll still need to pull off another SEC win to reach it, but this aberrant, electrifying win in Lexington might be the point where Auburn screeched a flailing season to a halt, and reversed a course that was destined for disappointment.
Of course.
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