The Auburn Tigers were not able to summon the same magic they used to defeat the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs this past weekend.

In their grand return to The Plains with the chance to pull off another ranked win against the LSU Tigers, Lane Kiffin’s team was able to come into Jordan-Hare Stadium and dominate Auburn on both sides of the ball to the tune of a 38-17 victory. The LSU win put things back into perspective for the Tigers in year one of the Alex Golesh era.

Unquestionably, what Auburn showed in the win at Georgia is evidence that Golesh has things moving in the right direction, but the LSU game a week later shows that the program is still a ways away from the vision he had for the team.

With a game against Arkansas and then Samford at home, and a very winnable game at Mississippi State while already sitting at four wins, the Tigers are within a very reasonable range of bowl eligibility – a step they have not achieved in the last couple of years.

Everything is still ahead of Auburn and they can still salvage a very strong winning season under Golesh. That combined with a victory against the Bulldogs at their house for the first time since 2005 would certainly be enough to convince fans that the program is in very good hands here moving forward.

Saturday’s loss in dominating fashion was certainly a discouraging blow for the home fans, but progress in program building is not always linear.

If Golesh can keep things on track from here, he will continue to have the full support of the Auburn fanbase.