Paul Finebaum: Auburn faces must-win game against Georgia in Week 7

Auburn has quickly gone from a 3-0 start overall to an 0-2 start in conference play with a pair of road losses in the SEC. Now, Paul Finebaum says the Tigers are in a must-win scenario once they come out of their bye in returning home to play the ‘Dawgs.

Finebaum agreed with Greg McElroy while on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on Monday about Auburn being in a must-win against Georgia on October 11th. It’s not that anyone will necessarily be fired because of that game, but more so just that a third consecutive loss, and a winless start to league play, will all but end some of the bigger hopes for this season down on The Plains.

“It is a must-win,” Finebaum stated. “If you have three losses sitting there on October 11th with the schedule ahead, then your chances of really accomplishing very much are not very good.”

“I mean must-win or this season is going to just spiral out of control,” clarified Finebaum later to Cubelic. “I don’t mean anything in relation to coaching futures and all of that. But, you lose that game, and it’s at home, and a lot of the hope for any kind of decent season goes out the window. That’s what I mean.”

The start to the season went as well as it could have for Auburn, with them opening the year with a two-score win at Baylor before reaching 3-0 to earn their first ranking in the Top-25 since November of 2021. However, in opening league play with two very tough road games, the Tigers have now lost two-straight one-score games at 24-17 at No. 11 Oklahoma and at 16-10 at No. 9 Texas A&M on Saturday. Now, with another top-ranked team on deck in Georgia, Auburn is looking right at a 3-3 record, if not worse from there on, that’ll completely shift where their season was headed from month one to month two.

While he does think it’s a must-win, though, Finebaum doesn’t think it’s a definite loss for the Tigers. They’re capable enough to pull an upset on the Bulldogs, who still aren’t necessarily of the caliber of the recent great teams for UGA, and especially so with them hosting it at Jordan-Hare.

“I mean, Georgia may be outstanding in November. They may figure some things out. But, right now? They’re not – I mean, they’re not a great,” said Finebaum. “And, on the road at Jordan-Hare? I’ll make this quick. We know what Auburn is capable of there. Even inferior Auburn teams have come very close to beating excellent, elite Georgia teams.”

Three losses, and certainly so already in conference play, just about ends all of the major goals a team may have in a given season. That’s what Auburn, who’s all of a sudden in a position to be back at .500, will try to avoid two weeks from now against Georgia.

“That’s a tremendous opportunity for them, and one that they have to close the deal on. And I really think that, I think they have a reasonable shot,” Finebaum said. “It’s twelve days off, but I think the season is going to hang in the balance.”