This is an opinion column.

As the world of college football unraveled in Nashville, a grass-stained Payton Thorne walked past an empty doghouse and into the Auburn locker room.

It was a walk that has become familiar to the Tigers.

But the feeling after Auburn’s third straight loss – this time 31-13 to No. 5 Georgia – wasn’t like the others. It’s evolving. And they’re fighting with the mentality to keep this from becoming routine, because 2-4 midseason isn’t the standard for this program.

However, the three-point loss to an old rival was the most acceptable three-point loss to an old rival possible.

The grass-stained quarterback embodied the duality of defeat.

Not bad.

Not terrible.

Just… OK.

Auburn never threatened an upset and dodged the knockout blow until the beautiful Athens afternoon turned to evening.

Although a loss of possession was avoided for the first time in seven games, this was a defeat riddled with the kind of mistakes that separate monumental upsets from decent defeats.

On the bright side, a week after losing to the team that lost to Vanderbilt on Saturday, Georgia never got its way.

On the other hand, Auburn couldn’t take advantage on a day when Georgia was equally (but proportionately) just about OK.

It was good for the team with the nation’s worst turnover margin (-11) to go 60 full minutes without scoring. Auburn hadn’t done that since the loss to New Mexico State last year.

It’s a shame that the Tigers are still 18 points worse without them.

Good: Auburn held Georgia to 381 yards rushing (after the Dawgs had 581 yards last week) while gaining 337 yards.

Bad: loss.

Even the response spanned the entire spectrum.

“We don’t play winning football,” said coach Hugh Freeze dejectedly.

“We have the talent to win a lot of games,” running back Jarquez Hunter said. “We could be undefeated at the moment. But it’s just the little things we messed up.”

These moments weren’t as devastating as a pick 6 in the fourth quarter, but they added up to a day that required perfection.

There was the illegal substitution penalty for Georgia’s first offensive ball. It was third-and-5 and the Bulldogs were stopped for no gain, but the flag brought life back to the drive. Down first. There were similarities between that moment and a late hit call early in the Arkansas game that revived a stalled drive that ultimately ended in a Razorback touchdown.

Well, this one did too.

Nine plays later, Trevor Etienne’s two-yard run made it 7-0.

“Those are the things I talk about,” Freeze said. “Damn, that’s a 3-out to start the game. That’s a reason to be excited and excited.”

Later in the game, Thorne threw a nice ball to freshman receiver Malcolm Simmons, who got a lot of hand and then some turf.

“Malcolm was the first one to come up to me and say, ‘Coach, I should have heard that.’ “It hit me right in the hands,” Freeze said.

Again, two things were true, and it embodies Auburn’s position. It was a catch of high difficulty. Part I of the equation was a perfectly thrown ball, but it required that little something extra – an athletic catch – that is largely the difference between winning and losing in competitive games.

Another moment speaks to the gap between 2 and 4 and something better.

The score was four to one in the first play of the fourth quarter and Auburn trailed 21-10. The Tigers were at their own 44 points and had the full quarter break to set things up. Convert and the drive continues with offensive momentum as Auburn scored a touchdown on its previous possession.

Instead, Thorne was swallowed up in the backfield and lost four yards. Georgia needed just five plays to make it 28-10 after taking the lead at the 40 mark.

Freeze, always honest and not the type to get into details like this, explained the fourth folly afterwards.

“Yes, (Thorne) absolutely disagreed with what we asked for,” Freeze said. “Payton is a thinker. He knows football. He decided to try some sort of zone reading there. I think everyone was a little confused. But we definitely didn’t agree on that. I should have used one of our timeouts there when I saw things going wrong.”

It should be a handoff to Hunter on the left side of the line. The running back, who scored the Tigers’ only touchdown on 13 carries for 91 yards, didn’t say he was bothered by the audible noise. Not quite. But his face said a lot when he answered a question about it.

“I mean, on fourth-and-1 we should have run the ball,” Hunter said. “I don’t know what the miscommunication was. We should have run the ball.”

And that is the crossroads of the moment facing Auburn.

They are 2-4 after losing three games by surprise before erasing a 22-point lead on Saturday. Freeze’s message to the locker room was more forward-thinking than reflecting on what got her here.

“Basically it was about not allowing this division between the team,” said receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith. “We are living through a moment when adversity reveals and shapes character.”

Auburn wasn’t bad on Saturday.

It didn’t lose a heartbreaker.

The Tigers just weren’t good enough again.

The 31-13 loss was simultaneously encouraging and discouraging.

Thorne left Saturday night’s game after throwing an interception-free game in the Tigers’ fourth straight SEC loss.

Tough, but obviously not the worst loss of the day.

The duality of the first Saturday in October 2024.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or further Facebook.