re: List of SEC programs with most 10+ wins that rank among nation's top 20 all-time

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Damn tough row to hoe erry year by AU. Still 1 NC and 1 NC runner up during that time...

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We’ve had our ups and downs for sure. I hope we continue to play Bama and UGA every season…. Don’t want to see those historic rivalries ever end.

But I am a bit excited about getting to play a more balanced schedule relative to our SEC piers going forward.

It also seems Auburn plays OOC opponents when they are at their very best.

Since 2002 (all regular season games and Final AP rankings)

2001: #14 Syracuse
2002: #4 USC
2003: #1 USC
2008: #23 W Virginia
2009: #25 W Virginia
2011: #22 Clemson
2012: #11 Clemson
2014: #18 Kansas St
2016: #1 Clemson
2017: #4 Clemson
2018: #13 Washington
2019: #5 Oregon
2022: #7 Penn St

In 13 of the last 23 seasons, we’ve managed to play a ranked OOC regular season opponent on top of the SEC West and Georgia every season…. Just brutal. Those OOC opponents included two eventual national champions.

We played literally the highest ranked Syracuse team of the past 31 years. We just happened to land our series against USC at the height of the Pete Carroll era. We played the second highest rated Kansas State team of the last 21 years. We landed West Virginia during their only streak of consecutive ranked seasons during the last 31 seasons. We played the highest ranked Penn State team of the past 18 years. We landed a series against Clemson during the height of the Dabo years. We somehow landed regular season games in back-to-back seasons against the eventual PAC 12 champ.

It’s just fluky how we always seem to play some of these OOC opponents in their best years.