During a weekend of upsets across college football, Auburn took care of business against a lesser Texas A&M team, and the Tigers find themselves in control of their own destiny, once again, following LSU’s loss at Alabama.
The Tigers also find themselves back in the Top 10, a place where they have not been since their demoralizing collapse at LSU.
Auburn moved up four spots this week in the College Football Playoff rankings, jumping from No. 14 to No. 10. The Tigers are the highest-ranked two-loss team ahead of Ohio State and Oklahoma State, among others.
Georgia and Alabama remained firm at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, as Auburn eyes potential upsets against its archrivals in two of the final three weeks of the regular season.
Auburn currently sits as a 2.5-point home underdog this weekend against No. 1 Georgia. The Bulldogs have won nine of the last 11 meetings, with Auburn’s lone wins coming in 2010 and 2013.
“Obviously, a huge game for us at home,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “I like where our team is at. We had a very good win at Texas A&M. The thing that stood out to me most about that win was the way we handled adversity. We handled it better in that game than we have in any other game this year. I feel that is good moving forward, especially when we get down to the end and play very talented teams."
The Tigers will look to bounce back vs. Georgia after last season’s second-half debacle as the Bulldogs rallied for a 13-7 win while holding Auburn to 32 yards and zero first downs in the second half.
If Auburn is able to knock off Georgia, the Iron Bowl will determine the winner of the SEC West for the first time since 2013.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF RANKINGS (Nov. 7, 2017)
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Notre Dame
4. Clemson
5. Oklahoma
6. TCU
7. Miami (FL)
8. Wisconsin
9. Washington
10. Auburn
11. USC
12. Michigan State
13. Ohio State
14. Penn State
15. Oklahoma State
16. Mississippi State
17. Virginia Tech
18. UCF
19. Washington State
20. Iowa
21. Iowa State
22. Memphis
23. NC State
24. LSU
25. Northwestern
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