Somehow, the Auburn family is putting smiles on their faces and approaching the 2025 college football season with endless optimism. It’s hard to blame them when the national media is gassing up the Tigers’ chances of making the 12-team CFP field.
On3’s Andy Staples got the hype train rolling by tabbing Auburn the No. 13 team in his post-spring college football top 25.
The War Rapport’s Mike Gittens responded by claiming the 2025 roster will “easily” be the most talented on the Plains since 2019.
Now, the Auburn Observer’s Justin Ferguson is projecting the Tigers to be within striking distance of the CFP, given how many close games went the wrong way last season.
At worst, Auburn is projected to be what they’ve been the past two years.
“Auburn went 1-5 last season in games decided by 10 points or less. Football analytics will tell you that’s often usually prime territory for a team to bounce back the following season. That might not mean 5-1, especially considering the one close win was a home one against a strong opponent. But the numbers say there should be an improvement in the tight ones,” Ferguson wrote.
“It’s early and a lot will change, but the SP+ projections like Auburn to go 8-4 or better more than they like them to go 6-6 or worse. The talent acquisition and retention from Freeze and his staff are important. The Tigers should be in a better position to do what they couldn’t do several times last season, and we know that a quality Auburn team is capable of upset magic inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“A realistic ceiling for Auburn is eight wins, bumping up to nine if everything falls into place on offense. A realistic floor is more of what we’ve seen over the last four years.”
Hugh Freeze has put in three straight recruiting cycles’ worth of hard work. If it doesn’t pay off in 2025, he’ll likely have one more chance in 2026 — assuming things don’t get any worse from a five-win 2024 season.
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