This is an opinion column

In the moments still processing Auburn’s embarrassing, stunning and momentum-killing 31-10 upset loss to New Mexico State on Saturday, Aggies cornerback Andre Seldon celebrated in exactly the way his program should.

“We told them to cut that check and we can get out of here,” Seldon said.

New Mexico State came into Auburn and dominated Auburn in every single facet of the stat sheet and on the field. It collected a $1.85 million check on the way out the gates of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

A nice southeastern vacation for the Aggies. They were getting that money regardless. But that plane ride back toward Las Cruces, New Mexico must have been much more fun when the athletic program could get its funding, get free advertising and win all in one shot.

Pick any stat. New Mexico State had 414 total yards to Auburn’s 213. New Mexico State had the ball for 38:50 to Auburn’s 21:10.

Auburn wasn’t just upset at home, it was blown out on its home field.

It looked much more like Auburn’s offense over the first seven games of the season and not the prior three before New Mexico State.

Coming out of halftime, the SEC Network broadcast reported head coach Hugh Freeze said Auburn had to raise its “care meter”.

Frankly though, Freeze was the only one who appeared to care about this game seriously, at least outwardly.

Auburn came into this game riding its biggest swell of momentum in Freeze’s first year. It was the winner of three straight games. Sure, it’s easy to look ahead to Alabama. Auburn was set to be on a four-game winning streak going into the Iron Bowl. Auburn and Alabama, two of the hottest teams in America riding into Jordan-Hare Stadium together in a place where things tend to get funky.

On Monday, Freeze made sure to make it very clear he was aware Auburn couldn’t look ahead to Alabama this week. He refused to even say that seven-letter word.

But momentum is fickle, and can swing in an instant.

“You know, you can’t help when you win some games and you’re getting quality recruits, I mean, that’s cause for you to say you have momentum, but you have the job and the choice to continue that,” Freeze said Monday. “Because you know, we stump our toe this week and it’s easy to say the momentum would be shifted the other way and everyone that’s praising you right now would not be praising you.”

Toe stumped. Auburn kicked the corner of the table as hard as it could. Praise isn’t coming.

Freeze has — again, at least outwardly — been sure to note concerns he’s had for teams Auburn is projected to be much better than. He referred to Auburn’s trip to Nashville as “scary” despite Auburn being a heavy favorite and going on to win comfortably. Auburn took that game seriously. It took Arkansas seriously, beating the Razorbacks by 38 points and ending their chance at bowl eligibility while clinching bowl eligibility itself.

Freeze even knew, and acknowledged, that his Liberty team was crushed 49-14 by New Mexico State last year while he was actively in the process of getting the Auburn job.

In this case, the adrift minds appear to have been focused toward that seven-letter word Freeze wouldn’t say Monday: Alabama. Maybe Freeze didn’t see this coming, but he did see a different and lesser effort level.

“Not as good, if we’re being truthful,” Freeze said of practices this week. “Thought Tuesday was okay. Thought Wednesday and Thursday were not up to par, for sure.”

Auburn players and coaches have already discussed weeks where Auburn struggled earlier this season that effort in practice hasn’t translated to games. Well in a week where there wasn’t much effort in practice as Freeze described, it certainly becomes even harder to find effort in the game.

“You’re not going to execute if you’re not giving great effort,” Freeze said. “So it probably goes hand-in-hand. I thought our receivers ran routes in slow-motion tonight, did not get out of their breaks at the top end. We didn’t protect well. There’s nothing positive that I can say about tonight.”

Maybe the biggest concern this loss raised was exactly the worry Freeze had posited about using a higher-tempo offense. For three weeks after he stepped in following Auburn’s loss to Ole Miss, Auburn’s offense played with tempo and played well.

But Freeze was fearful that speed would leave his defense out on the field for far too long and cause it to get tired — especially if Auburn’s offense ran into a day where it struggled.

Well, seems that worry was valid. That’s exactly what happened. Auburn couldn’t establish a running game and then was forced to throw the ball. Auburn totaled 65 rushing yards and 2.5 yards per carry.

Auburn was stunned early, and didn’t recover.

This loss is more of an embarrassment than it is a referendum. Auburn was going to have growing pains in Freeze’s first year and certainly, while a near-$2 million check and a loss to New Mexico State definitely wasn’t an expected growing pain, it doesn’t toss away all the momentum. It doesn’t toss away Auburn’s bowl eligibility.

Yet now Auburn has to say the word Alabama and has to focus on the top-10 ranked team coming to Auburn next week in the Iron Bowl.

You’d think the effort level would have to be better in a week’s time. It better be, at least.

Time to bandage up that toe, Auburn. You already broke the table.

“It feels like a bad dream,” Freeze said.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]