AUBURN, Ala. – At the midway point of the season, No. 21 Auburn is 4-2. The margin for error is thin the rest of the way. But the coaches know that. The players know that. They were in a similar position last year at 5-2 and won five consecutive games to close out the regular season.
"Now that our backs are against the wall, it's a real similar feeling as it was last year," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I'm very confident that we're going to finish this thing. Our team is in a good spot mentally for everything that we went through the first half of the season, and I think we're set up to improve each week. We've done that the last few seasons. I think we'll do that again this year."
Next up is a home date with Tennessee on Saturday. The two sides haven't met since 2013, and it's the first time since 2008 since they've played at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn leads the all-time series with the Vols, 28-21-3, and has won the last six.
Saturday's game is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
'A whole lot to play for'
"[Winning the SEC West] was a long shot last year at this point, too. It was probably a really similar feeling. Obviously we don't control our own destiny. We'll need some help, there's no doubt about that. But there's still a whole lot to play for. If we can finish like we did last year, there'll be a lot of good things ahead. There's a whole lot to play for, and our team understands that."
Playing through pain
"I think it says a lot about [JaTarvious Whitlow] as a young running back with a shoulder [injury]. He played through it and showed some toughness and made some really good runs. Prince Tega [Wanogho] is another guy that I pointed out to our team that we weren't sure if he was going to play, and I thought he played pretty good, too. We've got some guys really showing some toughness."
Tennessee scouting report
"We've got Tennessee coming in this week, a team that had an off-week last week to give them two weeks to prepare. I think they're a hungry team, and I think that they've got good systems on both sides of the football. We're expecting their best. But this will be more about us and our approach this week, getting to play another game – a home game in the SEC.
"Of course, Jeremy Pruitt, we've faced him numerous times. We know each other very well. I think he's got a talented set of defensive guys. It looks very similar to what it has in the past. Like I said, the advantage they've got is they have two weeks to prepare and get healed up and all that. The way we are right now, our backs are against the wall with how we want to finish this thing. Playing at home, I expect our group to be extremely hungry on Saturday."
Injury report
Offensive lineman Jack Driscoll
"First of all, Jack's an extremely tough young man. He wanted to play last week. Just in pregame, we didn't feel like it was best for him to do that. We felt like we needed to give him another week or two. He'll practice again today. I think he'll be better than he was last week. I can't sit here and tell you today for sure he's going to play, but I know he'll want to play."
Linebacker Deshaun Davis
"I think we dodged a bullet with that. I mean it scared him, it twisted and kind of fell on him and all that. He came back in the game, and I think he's doing a lot better. We expect him to practice today."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf