In major college football everyone remembers what you did in November. The Auburn Tigers will once again have that opportunity to be remembered for that month. In part one of the Auburn schedule breakdown, the Auburn scheduled showed to be front and back-loaded with the opener against Washington and close the first half with a visit to Mississippi State. The second part of the schedule is completely back-loaded. Auburn should cruise until those final two conference match ups against their two biggest rivals.
Auburn Schedule Breakdown, Part Two
October 13: Tennessee (Home)
An old-school SEC rivalry will get renewed this season when the Volunteers head to Auburn to take on the Tigers. This was a match-up that had been played traditionally until 1992. That was when the conference went to twelve schools when they added both Arkansas and South Carolina to create the East and West divisions. While not an every year affair anymore, these two programs have met twice in Atlanta for the SEC Championship, once in 1997 and again in 2004 with the schools splitting those match-ups. Auburn currently holds a six game winning streak against Tennessee dating back to 2003. The last time they met was 2013 with Auburn winning 55-23.
This is a sandwich game for Tennessee after playing Georgia and having Alabama coming up on the schedule. Of course this is year one under Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee and he has had success against the Tigers as a defensive coordinator during his time at Florida State, Georgia, and Alabama. Auburn should win here but it will be very nostalgic seeing this classic rivalry renewed.
October 20: Ole Miss (Away)
The Tigers go back on the road and back to the state of Mississippi in game that could be a surprisingly dangerous. What will the mindset of the Rebels be going into this game? Who knows really, but spoiler could be it. If they do come in with that attitude and Auburn is looking ahead, this could be a high scoring game. Ole Miss brings in one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country with Jordan Ta’amu. Some fans forget that Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is not the only quarterback in the conference from the state of Hawaii, a sudden become a training ground for great college signal callers. With Ta’amu Ole Miss has perhaps the best trio of receivers Auburn will face all season. A.J. Brown, DeMarkus Lodge, and D.K. Metcalf all combined for 2,596 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2017. This Ole Miss team will put up points all season, and will ruin someone’s season. Will this week be it?
November 3: Texas A&M (Home)
Auburn will get their bye week and return home for their final conference game at Jordan-Hare Stadium. What will the Aggies look like in this game? This will be the back-end of a three game road trip for Texas A&M after games against South Carolina and Mississippi State. Auburn maybe catching a team that is just worn out and tired by this time of season. November is the point in the season a team is remembered most. Whether it be good or bad. Auburn knows from last season this is when you make your name, and Texas A&M knows struggling this time of season can cost a coach his job. This was the point in the season that seemed to be the downfall of former coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin led Aggie teams were 13-11 overall and 7-11 in SEC play in the month of November. Auburn again should win here, but Texas A&M will be looking to prove something here and show they can win in November.
November 10: Georgia (Away)
Now the season begins. Well, that is if Auburn can enter this game with at least only one loss. Georgia should come into this game in the same position as well. Auburn knows what this mean after how they put themselves in position to attain all their dreams in this spot last season. The big difference this time around is that they will have to travel on the road to attain those dreams. There will not be any surprise if Auburn comes into it as the underdog due to the struggles of Gus Malzahn on the road. Whoever wins this one will put themselves in a great position. If Auburn wins though they will not have much time to celebrate because more work will need to be done.
November 17: Liberty (Home)
Look, this game is what it is. Auburn should and more than likely will win this one by a huge margin. So what can they gain? Well, this is a great opportunity to get healthy and maybe get some young players some much needed playing experience. Remember that new redshirt freshmen rule? This is a good game for that.
November 24: Alabama (Away)
The Iron Bowl is the best rivalry in college football. It also will be the most important game for the entire 2018 regular season. Auburn fans have not let Alabama fans forget who gave them their only loss of 2017 despite the fact that the Tide did win the National Championship. This game will determine who represents the SEC West in Atlanta the following week. As stated for the Georgia game, Gus Malzahn and the Tigers will have to prove they can win a big game on the road. Auburn has not won in Tuscaloosa since the “Camback” in 2010. What does Auburn have in their favor that other teams in the SEC don’t have? The fact that they have the coach in Gus Malzahn that has two victories over the great Nick Saban. Can they do it? Perhaps. What if they do? Many more games will be played for the Auburn Tigers.
How many more games will Auburn play?
Auburn should set itself well after the first half of the season with a chance to get back in the title picture with the Georgia and Alabama games to close out the season. Will they make it there? This Auburn team is without question one of the most talented teams in all of college football, but the schedule will finally catch up to them. They will lose one of the big four match-ups against Washington, Mississippi State, Georgia, and Alabama. That sets them up with a 10-2 record, but will probably bring out some criticisms from portions of the fan-base. Though, if they do make it through the season with at worse one loss, well then Auburn should call themselves the 2018 road warriors.
