It would have been easy for Auburn to look past Mercer this week.

The Tigers were 10 games into the season, had their head coach fired less than a month ago and have a showdown with their hated in-state rivals coming up next week. All of those things make it easy to not be excited for a late-season game against Mercer, an FCS opponent.

Auburn, however, shook off a slow defensive start on Saturday to beat Mercer 62-17 , improving its record to 5-6 ahead of the Iron Bowl next weekend.

“It was really a task and a struggle to say, ‘OK, we’re going to focus on this game,’” Auburn interim head coach DJ Durkin said after the game. “I thought they did a great job of that. Now obviously, this game is over, and our full focus goes to [the Iron Bowl].”

Auburn will have plenty to play for next w

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