Auburn Football: How the Tigers Can Still Make Playoff After Loss to Texas A&M

AUBURN, Ala. — You can't completely count out the Auburn Tigers.

The college football world saw that in the second half of Saturday's game between No. 3 Auburn and unranked Texas A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Despite being down by 18 at the half to a team that had all the momentum in thanks to its offense and special teams, Auburn rallied in the second half to be down by just three points in the red zone—on two separate late-game situations.

"I am proud of our guys," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We fought back. We got in a hole early. Obviously the fumble at the end was big...I thought the defense at the first part of the game, (Texas A&M) was getting quite a few yards, and then in the second half we held them to two field goals."

But Auburn's offense literally fumbled away both of those chances at victory, and a 41-38 heartbreaker to Texas A&M puts the Tigers on the outside looking in when it comes to the SEC and national-title pictures.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

There is no sugar-coating Auburn's failed comeback bid against the Aggies, a team that had lost three straight SEC games, including a 59-0 beatdown at the hands of Alabama. With the obvious exception of Samford, Saturday's defeat was the worst loss Auburn had left on the schedule.

However, Auburn still has two road games left against fellow SEC powerhouses Georgia and Alabama—games where the Tigers could be more than just spoilers.

It is going to take a lot of improvement and a lot of insanity.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Improvement

Auburn suffered from problems old and new Saturday night against Texas A&M and dearly paid for it when Aggies quarterback Kyle Allen went for the final kneel-down.

The all-too-familiar slow start put the Tigers in a 14-0 hole with only two minutes and a few seconds off the clock in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Allen, who struggled against Sun Belt opponent UL-Monroe in his first career start last Saturday, put together a better performance in just two quick drives against Auburn, as the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer's Ryan Black noted on Twitter:

The Auburn defense couldn't keep up with the Aggies' pass-heavy spread attack in the opening half, continuing a theme from the last three games of the Tigers' 2014 season.

Although the errors attributed to miscommunication and poor adjustments started to dwindle down after halftime, the Tigers defense was still frustrated with the hole it made for the entire team.

"We just didn't play to our potential," junior linebacker Cassanova McKinzy said. "We came out real slow...and we can't come out real slow."

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

While the execution was sloppy for Auburn's defense early in the game, it was even more deadly for Auburn's offense late in the game.

The Tigers plugged away at the deficit throughout the second half to make it a one-possession game with under eight minutes left, but a fumble by senior running back Cameron Artis-Payne and quarterback Nick Marshall ended Auburn's drive at the Texas A&M 2-yard line.

"It was a poor exchange on my and Nick's part," said Artis-Payne, who overcame another early fumble to post a career-high 221 rushing yards. "It's something that never really happens. It was one of those things that were uncharacteristic of us."

Auburn got the ball back after another stop from a rebounding defense, but a Malzahn offense that thrives on efficiency had its most uncharacteristic slip on its final offensive play with a poor snap from senior center Reese Dismukes.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

"We were trying to check a play right there which we have done many times," Malzahn said. "There was just a little bit of miscommunication there."

With Auburn facing a Georgia team coming off a 63-point performance at Kentucky and an Alabama team that—at this exact moment—controls its own destiny in the SEC West race, Auburn must see plenty of improvement from its defense.

"Half of it was that they were making plays and we weren't, and the other half was miscommunication," junior cornerback Jonathan Jones said. "We'll get back to it, get it corrected and move forward."

And although the Auburn offense continued to put up big numbers Saturday night, Marshall and his teammates need to cut down on the late-game errors that hurt against both Mississippi State and Texas A&M.

"We're going to clean up the stuff we can, learn from this loss and move forward as a better team," Artis-Payne said.

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Insanity

Even if Auburn straightens its issues out on both sides of the ball and manages to pull off back-to-back road wins against its two biggest rivals, it most likely won't be enough to get into the playoff hunt.

A two-loss team will need the boost from a conference championship, and the Tigers will have to emerge victorious in a three-way tie in the SEC West. 

Team	Auburn	Alabama	Mississippi State
Nov. 15	at Georgia	vs. Mississippi State	at Alabama
Nov. 22	vs. Samford	vs. Western Carolina	vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 29	at Alabama	vs. Auburn	at Ole Miss

No. 1 Mississippi State still has two big road games of its own left against Alabama and Ole Miss, and Alabama would need to stay at one loss heading into the Iron Bowl.

Each team would have two losses in the West, with one win and one loss to each other. Alabama and Mississippi State would have a loss to Ole Miss, which Auburn defeated last weekend in Oxford.

That road victory against a two-loss team outside of the tie, according to 2.C of the SEC's Divisional Tie-Breaker Rules, would make Auburn the SEC West representative in Atlanta.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

From there, the Tigers would need to continue winning out with a successful defense of its conference title and hope the College Football Playoff committee would take a two-loss champion from the nation's toughest conference.

It seems crazy to even suggest, especially right after a loss to an unranked team, but the team that has done so much the last two seasons on improbable finishes can still find its way into the final four.

A lot has to happen for Auburn and for its fellow powerhouses, but it's not impossible.

"You can't get your head down in college football," Jones said. "I've seen crazier things happen, so we just have to remain optimistic and keep playing."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.