Like Roc-A-Fella Records, can we please acknowledge that Auburn is definitely in the building?

Four full weeks into the 2014 college football season, and we still aren't really talking about the defending SEC champions. Did I miss something? Wasn't this team 13 seconds away from winning the final BCS national title game at the end of last season?

Despite returning a handful of starters on both sides of the ball to a team that made a fantastic run through the SEC only a year removed from being a certifiable dumpster fire on the Plains, the fifth-ranked Tigers (3-0, 1-0 SEC) entered the 2014 season ranked behind Alabama, which Auburn beat last fall -- on a miracle play, but still beat.

And even after a perfect start, which includes a 24-point win over a much-improved Arkansas team and a tough road win at No. 20 Kansas State, it's as if the Tigers are in our peripheral vision. Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0) is ranked one spot behind Auburn, yet has four first-place votes to Auburn's zero.

If you look at what Auburn has done thus far, the argument can certainly be made that it is probably the most complete team of the SEC's preseason favorites. The offense is balanced, and the defense is much improved. There's a quality veteran quarterback and a hot-shot coach running things.

You are what your record is, right?

The Tigers have done everything asked of them, and done it well. You say their six-point win over a Kansas State team that narrowly escaped what would have been an epic upset against lowly Iowa State isn't impressive enough? Well, I think you should look deeper at what the Tigers did to claw their way out of Manhattan, Kansas.

There were some mistakes on Kansas State's part that certainly helped Auburn, but one thing that really stuck out to me was how Auburn turned to its passing game to win. Kansas State's stout run defense thwarted Auburn's dynamic rushing attack, allowing just 128 rushing yards and a paltry 2.8 yards per carry (the lowest in the Gus Malzahn era). Auburn hadn't been held to under 300 rushing yards in either of its first two games, and this marked just the second time in 17 games under Malzahn that the Tigers were held below 200 rushing yards.

With the running game in a shambles, quarterback Nick Marshall was given the green light to chuck away. This is the same quarterback we've had to question multiple times when it comes to being a more consistent passer. Well, the coaches didn't question him, and he didn't disappoint, throwing for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Marshall came up with a clutch game-winning throw -- again -- in the fourth quarter when he found a wide-open D'haquille Williams for a 39-yard gain on third-and-9 with 2:06 remaining.

The Tigers also forced three turnovers without key defender Jermaine Whitehead even in the state.

But it shouldn't surprise us, how this defense has played thus far. Auburn ranks fourth in the SEC, giving up just 310.7 yards per game. Last season, the Tigers didn't hold a team under 415 yards of offense until Oct. 12 against Western Carolina.

Auburn limited Arkansas, which leads the SEC with 324.5 rushing yards per game, to just 153 yards on the ground. The Tigers, which gave up 163 rushing yards per game last year, are surrendering 86 per contest so far. And what's even more impressive is the fact that Auburn is playing without arguably its best defender, defensive end Carl Lawson, who is recovering from ACL surgery.

Auburn ranks within the top half of the SEC in seven of the eight major offensive and defensive categories. The offensive line has surrendered one sack, the running game is just as potent this year (262.7 yards per game), and the receiving corps got a major upgrade with Williams (two 100-yard receiving games in his first three games with the Tigers) becoming the only Auburn receiver in the past 10 seasons to have multiple such games before the end of September, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Auburn isn't perfect, and the Tigers will continue to face tougher competition as they tangle with the teeth of the conference schedule, but this isn't a team that should be overlooked, and for some reason it is.

Fool me once, right?