Auburn fans got hit with another rough stretch this week, and it wasn’t just coming from the football side.
The Tigers are 3-2 and headed into the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry as a heavy underdog against Georgia, but the unease around Auburn athletics has spread well beyond the gridiron. Between a major Banana Ball announcement and a troubling basketball exhibition loss, there’s plenty feeding the gloom on the Plains.
Banana Ball is coming to Auburn, with the sport’s opening weekend set for Plainsman Park and Jordan-Hare Stadium. The reaction online has been split right down the middle.
Some fans are looking at the upside: a big revenue boost for Auburn athletics, better NIL spending and stadium amenities, more business for local shops, and a new experience for kids just getting into baseball. Others see it as one more sign of where college sports are heading at a time when the CFP is expanding to 24 teams and amateurism feels like it is slipping further away.
Auburn has already opened its facilities to concerts and a World Cup friendly, so Banana Ball entering the mix feels like the next step in that direction. If the schedule keeps growing in that lane, one more suggestion has already been floated: Monster Jam.
There was also plenty to worry about on the basketball floor. Steven Pearl’s team dropped an 82-71 exhibition game to Florida State on Wednesday night at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham.
The Seminoles took control at the line and on the glass, hitting 40 free throws and beating Auburn 51-40 in rebounds. Pearl was blunt about his frontcourt, saying Narcisse Ngoy and Bukky Oboye were “punked.”
Yes, it was a preseason game, and Auburn was missing Mantas Rubštavičius, Owen Freeman, and Kolby King. But there were still habits showing up that raised eyebrows, and the overall product was not easy to watch.
For a fan base already stewing over an offense that has been hard to enjoy in football, seeing the basketball team come out flat only added to the frustration. The bigger question hanging over the program now is simple: what is there for Auburn fans to feel good about right now?
One thing is certain - Auburn basketball can’t afford another March Madness miss under Steven. Benko, who had two separate stints at Auburn, was overseeing business operations, NIL and revenue sharing, NIL events and strategic initiatives, player management, contracts, human resources, information technology, equipment, sports performance and sports medicine.
Take from that what you will.
In Other News...
Auburn Suddenly Has A Real Opening In Athens Saturday
Georgias injury report is giving Auburn a little extra life heading into Saturdays trip to Athens. The Bulldogs may be without safety KJ Bolden, while safety Tyriq Green and outside linebacker Darren Ikinnagbon have already been ruled out, and that comes on top of several offensive absences as well, including receiver Isiah Canion and multiple running backs. For an Auburn team trying to find any edge in a difficult road setting, the availability chart has suddenly become part of the conversation.
Auburn has its own issue to sort through, with linebacker Xavier Atkins unavailable because of suspension, but the overall picture still leaves the Tigers looking at a Georgia roster that is not at full strength. Those kinds of misses can matter in a game where margins are already thin, especially when a defense is shuffling pieces and an offense may have to adjust on the fly. For Auburn, the opening is there now, and the challenge is making sure it does not close quickly on Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Fans Have Every Right To Be Furious About Week 7
Week 7 is setting up as one of those Saturdays SEC fans circle on the calendar, only to realize they may spend most of it flipping between screens. Auburns trip to Georgia is in the same kickoff window as Alabama at Tennessee and Missouri at Ole Miss, creating a crowded slate of high-profile games that will all get going at once. For viewers, its the kind of scheduling jam that turns a big day into a constant compromise.
The loudest complaints have centered on Missouri at Ole Miss, which many around the league felt deserved a bigger national stage than the SEC Network. For Auburn fans, the overlap matters too, because their game at Georgia is part of the same traffic jam of attention, and there will be no easy way to keep up with everything else happening elsewhere in the conference. It is the sort of weekend that leaves fans arguing less about matchups and more about who decided they should all be watched at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Heads To Georgia With Very Little Margin For Error
Auburn comes out of the bye week staring at one of the toughest assignments on its schedule, a trip to face No. 1 Georgia with very little room to work with. The Tigers already know the margin is thin, and the challenge only gets steeper with Xavier Atkins away from the team and the defense missing a key piece as it tries to hold up against one of the nations most talented rosters.
The offense will also have to be cleaner than it has been on the road, where pre-snap penalties have made life harder than it needs to be. Against Georgia, those little mistakes can snowball fast, and Auburn is heading into a game where discipline, field position and execution will matter as much as talent. [Read more 🡒]