Auburn Adds Non-Conference Opponent to 2020 Football Schedule

Auburn has come one game closer to filling out the 2020 non-conference football schedule, with the addition of the UMass Minutemen for November 14th, 2020.

UMass has only won ten games combined in the last five years, so barring a miracle turnaround, this should be an easy get-right game for the Tigers before the final couple of weeks of the season.

the 2020 non-conference schedule already includes Southern Miss and Alabama A&M, so the Tigers need to find that required Power 5 opponent to fill the last void on the slate. Right now, that’s the only season that doesn’t have a quality opponent on the schedule. Auburn will face Washington to open up 2018, Oregon in 2019, Penn State in a home-and-home for 2021 and 2022, then Cal for a similar setup in 2023 and 2024.

Auburn’s game with Washington next year will be the Tigers’ first against the Huskies, and the much-anticipated rematch with Oregon will mirror the national championship game from several years ago. Obviously Penn State has risen under James Franklin, taking the Big Ten a year ago and earning a Rose Bowl berth, and Cal just checks a team off the list of opponents that Auburn has never played.

For 2020, the list of never-before-played teams that Auburn could schedule is pretty large.

Twelve of the teams in the above picture are Power 5 opponents, mostly from the Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 12 — Utah, UCLA, Stanford, Purdue, Pitt, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Iowa, Iowa State, Illinois, and Arizona State — and most of them would garner national attention should the matchups happen.

As long as we don’t schedule Clemson again.