Many Auburn fans wondered if Saturday's loss to No. 17 LSU was "a letdown game" or if Week 7's win at then-No. 1 Georgia was a "fluke."

Auburn players will quickly tell you that is not the case.

Sure, the loss was disappointing considering it was Auburn's first home game after upsetting the top-ranked team, but LSU played arguably its best game of the season. LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt played nearly flawlessly, connecting on 71% of his passes for a season-high 387 passing yards and zero turnovers. LSU's offense also outgained Auburn, 552-271.

Despite its wide margin of defeat, Auburn rarely hurt itself with mistakes in its loss to LSU. The home-standing Tigers committed one fewer penalty than LSU and had zero turnovers. Auburn's offensive execution just did not live up to the standard.

"We soak it in today, and then flush it out tomorrow, fix what we got to fix, and on to the next opponent," Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown said postgame. "Same as it was last week, just have to execute at the end of the day."

The leaders are hoping to keep the rest of the team focused on the main goal, improving each week, ahead of this week's practices. That starts Monday as the team begins preparing for a road trip to Ole Miss.

"We were just here about three weeks ago. Just going back to work, the work is going to put us through all this, and that’s the only thing we can control," Auburn defensive back Rayshawn Pleasant said. "I just go in there, get rid of it tomorrow, pin our head down, and go back to work.”

Auburn will need to quickly put the loss to LSU behind them as No. 12 Ole Miss awaits them for another important SEC showdown on Saturday. Saturday's game will be the last of a four-game stretch against ranked opponents, and the Tigers need a strong showing against the Rebels to build confidence ahead of a three-game stretch of winnable games against Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Samford.

Auburn, which sits at 4-3 entering this weekend's action, is still on pace to reach its highest win total since 2019.