does anyone agree with me that ole miss is a must win?

[johnjacob 44]

I agree to a point. Depends on what you mean by "must win"? If you mean its a must win to get to 7 or 8 wins then yes I agree. I don't think losing it will psychologically kill this team as they are mentally tougher than last year's squad. Fact is though its gonna be tough to win the A&M, UGA, and bammer games and no guarantee we can go to UT and Arky and win both of those so the Ole Miss game is huge if we want more than 6-6. Week off, time to fix some inconsitencies and have a good plan for Ole Missy.

I'm more confident about beating UGA than Ole Miss. UGA has struggled vs up-tempo teams. Ole Miss is used to uptempo and are playing us early where as UGA is playing us when our team should be hitting their stride barring anymore serious injuries.

[DivisionN 102]

It is VERY important. Fortunately, it sets up well for us, with us coming off a bye week and them playing bammer. Unfortunately, they are a well-coached team with good talent. Conversely, they are not as talented or as powerful a team as LSU. Pray it isn't raining!

[NoALtiger 3,875]

I agree to a point. Depends on what you mean by "must win"? If you mean its a must win to get to 7 or 8 wins then yes I agree. I don't think losing it will psychologically kill this team as they are mentally tougher than last year's squad. Fact is though its gonna be tough to win the A&M, UGA, and bammer games and no guarantee we can go to UT and Arky and win both of those so the Ole Miss game is huge if we want more than 6-6. Week off, time to fix some inconsitencies and have a good plan for Ole Missy.

^^This^^ I think to get to the 8 or so win mark, we really need to win this one. Ole Miss is pretty good seems like and have been improving, but this is a very winnable game for us. I think this is more of a measuring stick for us than the LSU game actually. Beating Ole Miss, UT , and Arky would show much improvement regardless of what happens with aTm, UGA, and Updyke.

[WeagleTheBeagle 60]

It is VERY important. Fortunately, it sets up well for us, with us coming off a bye week and them playing bammer. Unfortunately, they are a well-coached team with good talent. Conversely, they are not as talented or as powerful a team as LSU. Pray it isn't raining!

This is the key. We may not be the better team at this point but I feel optimistic we get the win b/c 1.) We are at home 2.) We come off a bye week 3.) Ole Miss will be playing their 2nd straight road game and will most likely be beat up after Bama.

[homersapien 11,677]

OM is another important indicator of our trajectory, only in this case, we won't get any credit for playing them tough and losing. Until we have a least 6 wins, they are all "must" wins.

And how cool would it be if they upset the gumps?

[DyeCampAlum 335]

A must win for what?

Getting to 8 wins doesn't sound like a must kind of goal to me. We still have tests with Arky and Smokey. We're not home yet, not by a long shot.

Even if we go 5-7, which I don't expect, I can see the progress we're making.

So for me, beating Ole Miss will be the first time we've beaten a genuine above average SEC opponent in a very long time. That's why it's important.

[AUBwins 10,157]

I agree to a point. Depends on what you mean by "must win"? If you mean its a must win to get to 7 or 8 wins then yes I agree. I don't think losing it will psychologically kill this team as they are mentally tougher than last year's squad. Fact is though its gonna be tough to win the A&M, UGA, and bammer games and no guarantee we can go to UT and Arky and win both of those so the Ole Miss game is huge if we want more than 6-6. Week off, time to fix some inconsitencies and have a good plan for Ole Missy.

This. Could not have said it better.

[WarEagle10 77]

After watching Ole Miss dismantle Texas and watching our D struggle against spread offenses thus far- beating Ole Miss will be a very difficult task.

I agree. They are a well coached team.

As to the OP, It is a must win game in my book. It will go a long way towards getting to a bowl. It could lead to an upper tier bowl. It would definitely help in recruiting. The season isn't over with a loss.....but the hill we are climbing becomes much steeper wit a loss.

[NWALTIGER 1]

I thought State was the must win. As long as we win one of the three Ole Miss, UT, or Arky we go to a bowl. I just think its critical that the team gets the extra practice time that comes with a bowl game. If I had to choose one of the three it would be Arky. I'm sick of losing to substandard Hawg teams year in and year out.

[au75 75]

Yes. Every game is a must win. If we lose will we return to last season form? NO. Good coaching staff this year. WDE.

[doc4aday 1,887]

All games are must win games. We can control our own destiny and change the stars in sky. I fully expect this team to be able to win any game they suit up for in 2013.

[texasautiger 0]

Well, in order to get to Atlanta, we pretty much have to win out in conference. I mean, I guess it's possible we lose to OM and get back to Atlanta, a la 2002 Arkansas, but that's probably unlikely. But, yeah, beat OM and hope for an LSU loss, and we're right back in this thing!

*that's what we're talking about right, AU getting to Atlanta

[alexava 6,974]

Well, in order to get to Atlanta, we pretty much have to win out in conference. I mean, I guess it's possible we lose to OM and get back to Atlanta, a la 2002 Arkansas, but that's probably unlikely. But, yeah, beat OM and hope for an LSU loss, and we're right back in this thing!

*that's what we're talking about right, AU getting to Atlanta :)/>

slow down a minute

[Barkchevious 75]

I'm worried about Ole Miss. AU should beat Ole Miss every single year (with the occasional exception when OM has a player named Manning, or AU has a coach named Chizik), but they scare me this year.

Looking at our schedule (without O and B glasses on), we knew we had to beat MSU, OM, UT and Arky to get to 8 wins, and then an upset somewhere would get us to 9 and a solid bowl.

This is a MUST WIN to have a realistic shot at 8 wins.

[JFDTiger80 791]

I'm worried about Ole Miss. AU should beat Ole Miss every single year (with the occasional exception when OM has a player named Manning, or AU has a coach named Chizik), but they scare me this year.

Looking at our schedule (without O and B glasses on), we knew we had to beat MSU, OM, UT and Arky to get to 8 wins, and then an upset somewhere would get us to 9 and a solid bowl.

This is a MUST WIN to have a realistic shot at 8 wins.

I think the Ole Miss game will be very tight. I think it may come down to the wire. If we have the ball, I like our chances with Parkey kicking.

[texasautiger 0]

Well, in order to get to Atlanta, we pretty much have to win out in conference. I mean, I guess it's possible we lose to OM and get back to Atlanta, a la 2002 Arkansas, but that's probably unlikely. But, yeah, beat OM and hope for an LSU loss, and we're right back in this thing!

*that's what we're talking about right, AU getting to Atlanta :)/>

slow down a minute

LOL. Yeah, I was just joking. That being said, others who are saying it's a must-win so AU can get to some arbitrary 8 or 9 win total are, IMO, equally unrealistic. As others have pointed out, this is a team coming off, in all seriousness, one of the worst seasons of AU football ever (the point differential ranks 6th all time for AU at 116 more points against than scored). So a realistic goal for this year was to get to 6-6 and a bowl game. I hope and pray that AU can achieve that goal, and I think they will. Anything beyond that is just gravy, and IMO in no way a must-win.

[AU! 0]

Ole Miss is definitely a scary team, but we benefit from a bye week this weekend while they travel to uat. Even if they can find a W in west vance, they'll come out of it nursing some heavy bruises.

[AuburnNTexas 7,236]

With a new coaching staff that has gotten both the players and the fans believing that we have a chance in every game. It is very important that we win a few games people outside of Auburn don't expect us to win. After last year most people predicted Auburn at the bottom or near the bottom of the SEC West. Beating MSU gave us a little confidence and helped reinforce what the coaches have been preaching. Beating Ole Miss will solidify the message then we need to win at least two SEC road games with Ark. and Tenn being best opportunities.

Anything after that is gravy. Luckily for us I hear Gus likes gravy so if we will those three games we have a chance to exceed most peoples expectations.

Right now I think everybody in the SEC West is beatable. The Auburn LSU game showed me a very solid LSU offense but it also showed me a vulnerable LSU defense. Georgia D is questionable, Alabama has shown defensive issues D-Line is not getting a whole lot of push, Texas A&M has also shown defensive issues.

Offensive execuition without turnovers is the key to winning this year.

By winning Ole Miss game, Tenn game and Ark game we would be in a position to make a run so from the point of cementing what coaches have been preaching and for putting us in a position to surprise a lot of people then yes Ole Miss is a must win game. Is it a must win game that if we don't whole season is shot. Not by a long shot.

[aumempho 0]

Once everything gets called a must hasn't the idea of a must win lost any meaning.

Washington State was a must win, Mississippi State was a must win, Auburn must get a win out of Tennessee/Arkansas. Clearly the bar for this team is to get to 6 wins and falling short of that would be tough to take. So anything that figures into those wins is the must.

I understand the importance of the Ole Miss game. When I looked at the schedule I saw 7 games I thought we "should" win. I saw 4 games that we "should" lose and the Ole Miss game. Prior to the season you have to realize most people thought that we were the 3-9 team from last year and would not make a bowl. Some still think that. A 7-5 team that is competitive in the losses would create plenty of positive momentum. I live in an Ole Miss market and attended the game in Oxford. I would like this win more than any, except one, on the schedule, but must win? No.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

No I would not agree with you. I would put TN as a must win at this point. They are the worst SEC team left on our schedule. After that it is ARK, then OM, TAM, UGA, and then uat.

The goal is to show improvement each week and get to a bowl.

[DyeHardAllTheWay 0]

We lose in a close one, and finish with another loss to A&M, which will put us at 3 losses. When we get to UGA and UA, I'm predicting we upset one of those to finish 8–4.

[IronMan70 3,277]

Let me preface this by saying I have watched every SEC team that remains on our schedule at least once and most twice. I also didn't think this before the first game and I wanted to wait to see what we had before going past the next week. Well I have seen.

I saw the improvement in the team in the off season in the first game, then the improvements made week by week. I then watched the last 3 quarters of the LSU game and it is my opinion that every SEC game that remains on our schedule is now winnable.

There are many reasons for this. But one of the most important is that the OL made a giant leap forward playing together as a unit in the LSU game. It's not like they were up against a bunch of palookas either. What this does for this team is huge in so many areas. I think we will be 5-1 when we go to College Station to play TAMU as we begin the second half of the season.

[AUpreacherman22 3,905]

I think it is a very telling game. If we lose, 7-5 is probably our ceiling. (still a pretty good turnaround season)

If we win, 8-4 is likely our floor, with possible wins against 1 or more of the big 3 left on our schedule.

So, this game is huge for how the rest of the season plays out, IMHO

[bwillaub 0]

I said at the beginning of the season that I thought we would win 7 regular season games and a bowl game win would give us 8 wins. I have seen nothing to get me to change that at this point. While an upset would be nice, I just don't see one. The schedule stacks up better for us next year so 8 or 9 wins will be much more doable.

WAR EAGLE!!

[mom2kid 216]

While as a fan I try to be positive, I think some of the posts are not realistic. UGA has a very good team and by the time we play them, they may be unbeaten in the SEC and playing for a shot in the SEC championship. A&M is another very good team that we probably will not beat. UAT is #1 and has a 4-yr starter at QB. Although I agree that they don't appear as dominant as last year, it will be hard to beat them this year. I think this means at least four losses. UT and Arkansas are winnable games if we play well. Ole Miss is winnable but they are also better than UT and Arkansas. I think right now they are the better team and for sure have the consistency that AU does not have. They also have an experienced QB and outstanding running back and phenom freshman receiver. I think it is a must win for AU in order to be 8-4 at end of the year. It's also important for our recruiting. You have to win against lesser teams and win 1 or two against better competition.