Auburn Projected To Make Close-To-Home Bowl Game After Ole Miss Loss

Here's where the Auburn Tigers fall in bowl projections after their loss to No. 12 Ole Miss.

Auburn Tigers helmets during the first day of football practice at the Woltosz Football Performance Center in Auburn, Ala. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Auburn Tigers may be on their first two-game losing streak of the season following their 45-15 loss to Ole Miss, but analysts are still high on Alex Golesh’s ability to take his team to a bowl game, which would be the first Auburn bowl appearance since 2023. 

The Tigers currently stand at 4-4 after back-to-back losses to LSU and Ole Miss, but with only Arkansas, Mississippi State, Samford and Alabama left on the schedule, chances seem high for the Tigers to turn in a six-win season this year.

In fact, CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford has the Tigers making not just any bowl, but one that would be all but a home game for Golesh’s squad– the Birmingham Bowl, in which Crawford projects the Tigers to take on the Syracuse Orange.

Quite a bit more is at stake for the Tigers than just a bowl appearance, though, as the program has not turned in better than a six-win season since 2019. However, with wins over Samford, Arkansas and the now Kamario Taylor-less Mississippi State Bulldogs, Auburn would head into the Iron Bowl 7-4, which would already be a massive step up from years past.

Tack on a win against Alabama, and the Tigers will finish the season with not only their first 8-4 record since 2018, but also having built a foundation that includes wins over both of the Tigers’ biggest rivals, as Golesh’s squad shocked the world earlier this year with a win over No. 1 Georgia.

Regardless of how well the Tigers have set themselves up so far this season, though, bowl eligibility is never a given, especially in the SEC. With that said, after their loss to Ole Miss, the Tigers appear to be through the most difficult part of their schedule and are favored in two of their final four matchups.

Against Arkansas, the Tigers’ next game, Auburn has been given an 80.4% chance to win according to ESPN’s FPI. The following week, FPI gives the Mississippi State Bulldogs a slight edge over the Tigers, even without Kamario Taylor, as Auburn has just a 49.6% chance to win.

After those matchups, the Tigers have a tune-up game against the local Samford Bulldogs, in which Auburn has a 99% chance to win, before the sun sets on Alex Golesh’s first regular season as the head coach of the program in the same way it has since 1948: with the Iron Bowl, which the Tigers have just an 11% chance to win.

Take two of those games, and the Tigers are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2023. Take three, and the Tigers have the strongest regular-season record of any Auburn team since 2019. Add on a win in the Iron Bowl, and things will undoubtedly be looking up as the Tigers enter their first full offseason under Golesh.

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