Auburn trying to glean positives from loss

Posted 8:01PM on Tuesday 25th October 2005 ( 19 years ago )

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville thinks there are more difficult challenges than rebounding from a mistake-filled overtime loss to a division rival in overtime. Like staying humble following a big victory. ``To me, over the years, it has been harder to put a big win behind you than a big loss like that because you keep thinking about the things you did well,'' Tuberville said Tuesday. ``When you lose a game like that, you look at the negative things you need to work on. You put more emphasis on getting back on the practice field and putting that in front of you.'' The 19th-ranked Tigers (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) have plenty of things to work on. They will try to rebound Saturday against Mississippi (3-4, 1-3) after losing 20-17 at LSU. Auburn had five missed field goals and dropped several passes in key situations. With the loss, the Tigers have a much harder road to repeating as SEC champions. They need to win their final four games and hope LSU loses again. Tuberville did find some positives from the game. ``I like the makeup of this team and I like how they played and the effort,'' he said. ``That is what you sometimes hang onto more than anything when you have a big loss like this, the effort that you put into the game, how hard they played, the emotions, and just the physical abilities that were on both sides. ``Somebody is going to lose and somebody is going to have to regroup and we are the team that has to regroup this week.'' Placekicker John Vaughn has the toughest rebounding task after his five misses. Tuberville said Vaughn was out on the practice field Sunday morning hours after arriving home from Baton Rouge. ``Through his career here, he hasn't been the most consistent, he'll tell you that,'' Tuberville said. ``He's worked on it. He's had people work with him. He basically won the Sugar Bowl for us and got us to 13-0 (in 2004). Sometimes you overlook the good things he's done when those kind of stand out. This will pass.'' The main problem, he said, was consistency in all phases of the game. Quarterback Brandon Cox completed just 16-of-40 passes in the game for 221 yards, but also directed a go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and put Auburn in position to score other times but for the missed kicks. Like Tuberville, Cox was trying to find the positives from the game. ``Being on the road against a team like LSU, for us to overcome those things and have an opportunity to win, shows a lot about our team,'' Cox said. ``We gave it all we have, but unfortunately we can't win them all. It's a tough way to lose. ``We learned a lot from this game, going down there and being able to play like we did. We know we're able to compete with anybody.'' TIGER TALES: Tailback Brad Lester will miss his second straight game with a groin injury ... Tuberville said Steve Gandy is challenging Eric Brock for the starting position at free safety. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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