It seems like Auburn is treading water as a program.

The Tigers, ranked No. 15 within the nation getting into Week 7, misplaced on the highway to South Carolina 30-22 on Saturday to drop to 2-2 on the 12 months.

Bo Nix, Gus Malzahn’s heralded five-star quarterback recruit, threw three interceptions within the loss. All three of Nix’s turnovers supplied brief fields for the South Carolina offense, leading to landing drives of 29, 49 and eight yards for the Gamecocks.

Even in any case of these errors, Nix would have an opportunity to redeem himself. Trailing 30-22, the Auburn offense regained possession at its personal 20-yard line with 2:15 to play.

Nix drove the Auburn offense deep into South Carolina territory, however an intentional grounding penalty on Nix proved pricey. All of it got here right down to a fourth-and-5 play from the 12-yard line with 9 seconds remaining. Nix would scramble round to evade stress and was ultimately tackled inbounds — wanting the road to realize — as time expired. It was a play that just about summed up his afternoon.

On the entire, the sport was the newest instance of what Auburn is within the SEC pecking order: a middle-of-the-pack workforce.

Auburn beat Kentucky 29-13 in its first sport, however that sport was a lot nearer than the ultimate rating would possibly point out. Auburn then was trounced 27-6 by Georgia and wanted a last-second area aim and a controversial officiating resolution simply to eke previous Arkansas 30-28 final week.

This week, it was extra of the identical. Nix flashed the athleticism that made him so engaging as a recruit, however was up-and-down together with his arm. He compelled balls into tight home windows. He missed open receivers. And he made poor choices.

These poor choices opened the door for a South Carolina workforce — a workforce that doesn’t have the identical stage of expertise because the Tigers — to drag forward and ultimately register its first victory over Auburn since 1933. Auburn had gained eight straight within the sequence earlier than Saturday.

With the tough schedule that lies forward, it’s exhausting to see Auburn realistically climbing again into the combination within the SEC West. Which means Auburn is in for an additional ho-hum season underneath Gus Malzahn. There’s nonetheless room for some good wins and one other unhealthy loss or two over the following two months. None of it can fulfill a fanbase desirous to compete for nationwide titles.

Malzahn famously led the Tigers to the nationwide title sport in 2013, his first 12 months. Since then, Auburn has by no means had fewer than 4 losses in any of the following seasons. Even in a shortened 2020 season with 10 common season video games, that streak seems like it can proceed.

South Carolina defensive again Jaycee Horn (1) celebrates an interception in opposition to Auburn in the course of the first half of an NCAA faculty soccer sport Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photograph/Sean Rayford)

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