Auburn has a solid chance to make the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history says ESPN’s early forecast.
Auburn football is in year three of the Hugh Freeze era, and its playoff chances have never been higher.
The Tigers will begin the season with one of the best College Football Playoff outlooks in the country, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. The preseason FPI from ESPN gives Auburn a 21.8% chance of making the playoffs, which ranks No. 18 in this category.
Auburn is also a top-20 squad in the FPI’s overall rankings, checking in at No. 14 with just over three weeks to go until the season begins. However, Heather Dinich feels that ESPN’s analytics may be projecting Auburn too high in the early stages of the season. Dinich, a senior College Football insider for ESPN, believes that Auburn will improve from its 5-7 record a year ago, but will have trouble navigating its schedule, the 14th-toughest in college football. She predicts the Tigers to suffer four losses this season, thus eliminating them from playoff contention.
However, Dinich shares two key factors that could help Auburn’s College Football Playoff chances. First, “bad” losses will need to be eliminated from Auburn’s path. Last season, Auburn fell to Cal and Arkansas, two teams that finished with six regular-season losses. Mixing those losses in with the losses to Oklahoma and Missouri, games where Auburn held leads in the fourth quarter, need to be eliminated this season says Dinich.
Another way for Auburn to solidify a playoff bid is by beating Alabama. Dinich feels that an Auburn win over Alabama could erase a tiebreaker should both the Tigers and Crimson Tide enter the game with identical records.
It’s not unreasonable for both Alabama and Auburn to finish with three losses this fall — but it’s also possible that Alabama…
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Publish date : 2025-08-06 11:02:00
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