Auburn 16th in Preseason AP Poll

There’s good news and bad news with the release of the preseason AP Poll.

The good news is that Auburn is ranked 16th by media voters around the land. Whether you believe in such thins, the Tigers have consistently been a much better team when expectations are lower. The last five times that Auburn began a season ranked inside the top ten, they finished with a lower ranking. In four of those seasons (2008, 2014, 2015, 2018) the Tigers finished unranked.

So we’ll see if recent historic trends continue and if Auburn turns into a surprise team that wins ten or more games in 2019. The pieces are there to do it.

On the other hand, the bad news is that it may be extra difficult to reach that historic trend-bucking win total. Auburn’s got one of the hardest schedules in the country, behind only Texas A&M and South Carolina, both of whom have to play Clemson, Alabama, and Georgia. Auburn only gets the latter two, and both of those games are at home.

As for the AP Poll, here’s how it shakes out —

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas
11. Oregon
12. Texas A&M
13. Washington
14. Utah
15. Penn State
16. Auburn
17. UCF
18. Michigan State
19. Wisconsin
20. Iowa
21. Iowa State
22. Syracuse
23. Washington State
24. Nebraska
25. Stanford

Auburn’s opponents are ranked #2, #3, #6, #8, #11, and #12. Unreal. We’ll have two top fifteen teams away from home in the first month of the season, two more top ten opponents on the road in October, and then two top three opponents at home in November. It’s a rough schedule, but like we said above, the pieces are there to make a run this year.

The team has begun Oregon prep, and a quarterback decision is imminent. We’re TWELVE days to kickoff, everyone. Get your yard work done, because it’ll be here ‘fore you know it.