Auburn falls two places in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after two-game stretch

The Auburn Tigers defeated then-No. 13 Arkansas by a good margin on Saturday, but sometimes it’s hard to please everyone.

Despite the 72-59 win over the higher-ranked Razorbacks, Auburn found itself falling yet again in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll — the Tigers dropped two spots from No. 20 to No. 22, and the Arkansas team they beat dropped three places from No. 13 to No. 16. Since Auburn’s loss to the Georgia Bulldogs took place in-between polls, it’s likely that the Tigers’ loss in that game influenced their lower ranking.

Bruce Pearl’s squad may have been a victim of circumstance as well, however. The Duke Blue Devils needed a place to land after barely beating Boston College on the heels of an upset loss to NC State, so they dropped seven spots to No. 21 — Meanwhile, Providence moved up 11 spots from being unranked to No. 19 after a win over No. 7 Connecticut and St. Johns.

As a result, the Tigers didn’t have a lot of room to move on up after the victory, and so they found themselves dropping despite a solid performance against a higher-ranked SEC team — the team’s bad game against Georgia, though, likely held more weight in the decision to put it lower.

Auburn will have another chance to move up in the polls when it takes on Ole Miss on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT.