Auburn's preseason bowl predictions: Most national outlets expect Birmingham's the best Auburn can hope for

The national media isn't too high on Auburn getting a prestigious bowl destination.

Author:
Lindsay Crosby
Publish date:
Aug 30, 2023 4:25 PM EDT

In this story:

There is a TON of excitement on The Plains for this upcoming football season - not only have season tickets been sold out for a while, but most games have seen their single-season tickets sell out, as well. Enthusiasm is high for this renovated Hugh Freeze squad, and fans are excited (and optimistic) to see what a Philip Montgomery offense and a Ron Roberts defense can do in the SEC.

But nationally? There's a bit more doubt about Auburn's ceiling this year.

We've scanned a lot of the preseason bowl predictions to see where the national media expects Auburn to be heading for bowl season...if they do at all.

ESPN: Birmingham Bowl (or no bowl at all)

ESPN put out two sets of bowl predictions, with college football reporters Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach giving predictions for all 43 bowl games.

Bonagura has Auburn making the Birmingham Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, Dec 23rd, facing UAB in what would (literally) be a home game for the Blazers.

Mark Schlabach doesn't have Auburn in a bowl game at all, picking Liberty vs Florida Atlantic in this game and leaving the Tigers out of his bowl predictions all together.

The Athletic: Texas Bowl vs TCU

The Athletic's bowl predictions come courtesy of Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman, and they have Auburn listed as an SEC 3-8 (which is not 3rd-8th place, but rather the 3rd-8th choice for bowl selection) facing off against the Big 12's 4th choice in the Texas Bowl on December 27th. Yet another matchup that's a de-facto home game for Auburn's opponent, as TCU fans would only be driving for a few hundred miles to make the trip to Houston.

CBS Sports: Duke's Mayo Bowl vs North Carolina

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Auburn in an ACC vs SEC matchup, with Auburn taking on North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on December 27th. Before you ask, yes the Duke's Mayo Bowl is played in North Carolina - Charlotte, in fact, so it's yet again essentially a home game for Auburn's opponent.

Bleacher Report: Birmingham Bowl vs Liberty

Uh...at least it's not a home game for the opponent? David Kenyon of Bleacher Report has Auburn ending Hugh Freeze's first season as head coach with a matchup against his former school, the Liberty Flames. The storylines in this one write themselves, and the national media would be absolutely insufferable if Auburn somehow dropped the matchup.

Consensus: Most national media sees Auburn as finishing somewhere around seven wins and getting a Birmingham Bowl bid or something else in that "just after Christmas" tier.

Feels low, but then again, the Vegas oddsmakers do still have Auburn listed at around 6.5 wins, so I get it.