re: Aubie has suffered some significant pre season losses

I never really saw the OP answered totally so I'll take a stab at it.

Kozan is being replaced by 5* Avery Young, starting RT. Young is being replaced by the guy that beat him for that spot the year previous, before having a disciplinary issue, Patrick Miller. Auburn practiced several days with this starting lineup in the Spring. Any further injuries would bring in Devonte Danzey to a guard spot...and if the injury was at tackle, Young back to tackle. Thru that scenario, Auburn is rock solid at OL...any more than one injury and things begin to get iffy.

Lawson hurts because while Auburn has very good depth and talent at each position, DE is probably the least. Some of the DT's have been cross training to get the best DL's on the field...you will see Gabe Wright play a good bit of end. Starters will be senior Ladarious Owens and Elijah Daniel. Also, the best pure pass rusher on the team might be Cassanova McKinzy...he is crosstraining there as well...and the fastest DL on the team, Rashaad Kennion probably won't redshirt for this purpose. We will be fine...but yeah, we'd be better with Lawson, no doubt.

On Therezie...this stings...because he was the perfect star...all over the field, hard hitting, instinctive playmaker...fast enough to cover WR's, strong/physical enough to stick his nose in there and really help out in the running game. This isn't a done deal because he is going thru an appeals process at this time, but doesn't look good. Here is the good news. Justin Garrett was picked to start over Therezie last year and was the defensive MVP in the Spring before getting injured. He is also a bigger guy that is going to be more active in run support than covering WR's. The first 6 teams that Auburn plays either suck or are run heavy teams...so this should work out just fine. Behind Garrett though, there is plenty of depth but all unproven...none of those guys we would want starting at this point.

Hopefully that answers your question. I think the hype comes from the fact that Auburn had a pretty good season last year, have more quality depth than perhaps ever, and return key positions. Who knows...maybe the bounce of the ball doesn't go our way this year and we end up with a couple of losses...but I think people hyping up Bama as a likely national champion have way more explaining to do than anyone optimistic about Auburn's chances.