To say this season has not gone to plan for Auburn would be putting it gently.

The Tigers have been mired in a downward spiral—a seeming continuation of last season’s plummet—that has been difficult to overcome. They’re 3-4 on the year, 1-3 in SEC play and on a three-game losing streak as they come out of the bye week and prepare to take on the final stretch of the regular season.

For second-year coach Bryan Harsin, at least, there is a silver lining—a kernel of hope that his program can rebound over these final five regular-season games, beginning Saturday at 11 a.m. against Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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“We have a lot of potential to get better, and that’s the great thing,” Harsin said. “That’s the motivating thing.”

Auburn’s issues this season have not been singular; there are areas to address in each phase of the game.

The run defense has been abysmal, particularly against Power 5 competition. The offense has struggled with turnovers, endured inconsistent play at quarterback and — until the last game against Ole Miss — a stonewalled rushing attack, factors that have contributed to Auburn’s poor third-down conversion rate as the team has often found itself behind the chains offensively. On special teams, kickoff coverage has been an issue of late, while Anders Carlson experienced some struggles on longer field goal attempts earlier in the season.

“Early in the year we were making the same mistakes over and over again, and that was really just why we weren’t having success,” tight end and team captain John Samuel Shenker said. “…We’re repeat offenders on certain mistakes that cost us football games, especially in the SEC. You’ve got to play good, clean football and that’s what Coach Harsin’s been preaching. You’re hard to beat when you’re playing clean football.”

That has been difficult to attain for Auburn this season. The Tigers have been besieged by untimely penalties and the nation’s worst turnover margin (minus-11 on the year). Those mistakes aren’t easy to overcome, but Harsin has been encouraged by the effort and fight he has seen from his team despite those struggles. Case in point, the trip to Ole Miss prior to the bye week. Auburn fell behind 21-0 early in the second quarter but battled back to within four in the third quarter before ultimately losing 48-34.

“When you don’t have great effort and when guys quit or give up, that’s a problem,” Harsin said. “Because that’s bigger than a scheme. That’s bigger than a coaching point. That’s bigger than a drill you can do and all that. You don’t see that. You see guys digging in.”

Auburn has been far from perfect this season, but Harsin views many of the team’s issues as correctible. It’s just a matter of doing it and actualizing the potential he sees in his program. As he halfheartedly joked Monday when asked about his team’s prospective to improve down the stretch: “I think we’d better.”

The first opportunity comes Saturday against the Razorbacks (4-3, 1-3 SEC), a team the Tigers have won six consecutive games against — including last season in Fayetteville, Ark., when Arkansas was ranked 17th in the country. While both teams are coming off an open date, it’s worth noting that historically, Harsin’s teams have performed well after bye weeks, holding a 9-1 record during his head coaching career.

That includes last season, when Auburn defeated a top-10 Ole Miss team, 31-20, at Jordan-Hare Stadium. That win made the Tigers bowl eligible in Harsin’s first season, but it also marked the final victory of Year 1 for the head coach, as his team ended the season on a five-game losing streak.

Auburn still has lots of work to get to bowl eligibility this season, needing three wins in its final five games against Arkansas, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Western Kentucky and Alabama. In essence, time is running out for Auburn to turn things around.

The team needs more than just resiliency; it needs to show improvement from top to bottom and produce results — and coming off an extra week of recovery and preparation, against an opponent that Auburn has dominated for much of the last decade, is the most opportune time.

“We have a long way to go,” Harsin said, “and we have a lot of potential to get there.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.