Two teams reeling and rattled amid difficult losses and controversy over the past weekend will meet on the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, on Saturday.
Auburn is Oklahoma's opponent this week, as the Sooners play their first true road game of the 2024 season and first as a member of the SEC. The good news, sort of, for Sooner fans after suffering through another disappointing offense performance and first loss of the season to No. 5-ranked Tennessee on Saturday is that Auburn is having similar problems of its own.
The offenses of both the OU and Auburn football programs are struggling to get traction and put points on the scoreboard against good teams. Both the Sooners and Tigers opened the season with impressive blowout wins, albeit against far-inferior teams. OU rolled over Temple 51-3, while Auburn burned Alabama A&M by a 73-3 count.
Since the opening weekend, however, Oklahoma has managed just 56 points, an average of 18 per game. Auburn has done a little better, scoring a total of 73 points in its last three games, but just 14 points in home losses to California and this past weekend to Arkansas.
Starting this weekend, Oklahoma is going with a different starting quarterback, something that Auburn has already experienced this season. All of this makes for an interesting matchup on Saturday. The Sooners' defense is statistically better than Auburn's, which probably gives OU a slight advantage, but what we do know for certain is that the best team on Saturday is going to come out the winner and leave the other to continue picking up the pieces.
Before then, however, and in the aftermath of a pair of troublesome losses by the two teams this past weekend, both Oklahoma and Auburn have plenty of work to do to get better and quickly in order to stay afloat in the almighty reality that is SEC football.
"Misery loves company," as the proverbial expression goes, and the Sooners and Tigers have the dubious distinction this week of being singled out in USA Today's college football Week 4 "Misery Index."
Here is what USA Today Sports staff writer Dan Wolken had to say about Oklahoma and Auburn and why the two programs rate the "Misery Index" this week:
Oklahoma: "The actual story here is Jackson Arnold. Arnold was one of the best quarterback recruits in the country, and it was a massive coup in January of 2022 when Brent Venables got the Denton, Texas, native to commit to the Sooners. But recruiting rankings don't mean guaranteed success at the college level, and the Sooners are going through major growing pains with Arnold."
Auburn: "In two years at Auburn, the cost-benefit analysis on (head coach Hugh) Freeze has hit a snag. His team doesn't win...Auburn's 24-14 loss to Arkansas, dropping the Tigers to 2-2, should absolutely put Freeze on a short leash. If you're going to be an offensive guru, you have to do better than 14 points, which is what Auburn managed against the only power conference teams on its schedule so far in California and Arkansas."