FOOTBALL

Auburn looking at Arkansas with 'tunnel vision'

Josh Vitale Montgomery Advertiser (TNS)
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn reacts during the second half against LSU on Saturday in Auburn. [Butch Dill/The Associated Press]

AUBURN — The mountain Auburn had to climb to repeat as SEC West champions was already as tall as Everest.

Washington in Atlanta. LSU and Texas A&M at home. Mississippi State, Georgia and Alabama on the road. All top-25 teams. Five of the SEC's best. Three of those away from the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

And that climb only got tougher with a 22-21 loss to LSU on Saturday that all but eliminated any margin for error Auburn had in an unforgiving division race.

Gus Malzahn isn't thinking about any of that, though. He can't. It doesn't matter that Auburn's next opponent, the Arkansas Razorbacks, are 1-2 and coming off back-to-back losses to Colorado State and North Texas — they have to be the sole focus.

"Their backs are against the wall," Malzahn said. "They're a team with a new staff, and they're going to improve each week. There's no doubt we're going to get their best. We got to worry about them, and that's all we're worried about. After that, we'll worry about the next one.

"You got to take it one game at a time and have tunnel vision. You can't worry about last week, you can't worry about the next week, you can't worry about how good this team's playing or that team's playing. That's the simple answer, and that's easier said than done. A lot of teams can't do that. That's our challenge."

And it certainly is a challenge. The pain from that loss to LSU still lingered when Auburn returned to practice Sunday. Players feel like they should have won the game. They very nearly did — one more first down on offense or one more stop on defense might have changed the outcome.

But many of those players do know how to bounce back from a difficult loss like the one they suffered Saturday. They dealt with something similar against the same team last season, blowing an early 20-point lead in a 27-23 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Auburn responded to that loss by winning five straight games — including top-ranked Georgia and Alabama — to capture the SEC West title for the first time since 2013. That streak started with a win over Arkansas.

The Tigers hope is that this one will, too.