re: Guess at the Way-Too-Early Rankings that should start coming out over the next 2 weeks…

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Why would Auburn be ranked higher than UF?

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Auburn 2025 signing class ranked #6
Florida 2025 signing class ranked #11

Auburn transfer portal class ranked #7
Florida transfer portal class ranked #61

We haven't seen the size of the checks the Bi10 is going to write for next year, yet, so hard to tell.

While we’re at it, here’s my guess at the earliest SEC preseason rankings:

1. Texas
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. LSU
5. Alabama
6. Auburn
7. South Carolina
8. Florida
9. Texas A&M
10. Ole Miss
11. Oklahoma
12. Vanderbilt
13. Missouri
14. Arkansas
15. Kentucky
16. Mississippi State

A large part of why I think Auburn will be a trendy preseason Top 25 pick is the fact we play teams 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 on the above list… in addition to #2 (at home), #5 (at home).

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Roster continuity is a good thing when you finish the season on the upswing and aren’t losing many players.

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Dude calm down. I’m not saying Auburn will have a better team than Florida. I’m saying that both should show up in a lot of the early Top 25 rankings.

Florida’s schedule is also significantly more difficult than Auburn’s, and like it or not, these folks factor that in their rankings.

Both play Georgia, Texas A&M, and Kentucky.

Auburn gets Alabama, Oklahoma, Vandy, Missouri, and Arkansas compared to Florida getting Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Miss St.

OOC we go to Baylor… you go to Miami and play FSU as well.

I've been telling everyone and I'm going to save this receipt, but Auburn is my dark horse to make the playoffs next year. I got to see Jackson Arnold play in HS and he was every bit of the 5 star player people say he is, OU did not do him any favors.

Based off of what exactly other than your opinion?

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Auburn is my dark horse to make the playoffs next year.

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Not sure I’d go that far, but we should be much improved.

Auburn was a pretty bad 5-7 team this year that played its easiest schedule in decades and still couldn’t manage to make a bowl… which is why there is so much frustration among the fans.

However, it’s easy to also see that this Auburn team was probably much better than the record indicated.

Auburn’s offense was #2 in the SEC in yards per play.

Auburn’s defense was #6 in the SEC in defensive yards per play.

We also had the 2nd fewest penalty yards per game in the conference.

Finishing 14th in the league with those stats doesn’t make sense until you see that we were dead last in Turnover margin…

In our 5 close losses to Cal, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Vandy…. Auburn was a combined -9 in turnovers while being a combined +275 in total yards. SP+ shows in their postgame win expectancy that we should have nabbed 2.95 wins in those 5 games… instead we got zero. It says that based on statistics, we should have 7.9 wins on the season… instead we got 5.

This was a season that Auburn caught no breaks. Every 50/50 bounce went the other way. I think the feeling is that had the ball bounced our way just half the time we would have been 7-5 at a minimum.

Next season’s team should be improved and I believe the schedule is a bit easier. We should be 8-4 at least. 9-3 is probably what should be expected. 10-2 or better is entirely possible.

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Some teams are tough to project without knowing if they will land a portal QB, like Miami, Oregon. Is Leonard back for ND next season?

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No, but most of the team on both sides of the ball is back. CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey will likely get the start at QB; Carr was a stud recruit and was getting rave reviews before he had to have surgery on his elbow.

Price, Love, the entire OL are back on offense. Faison and Greathouse are back; Evans could come back. We lose Leonard and Beaux Collins on offense.

Defense gets a fair bit back but more of a hit. We lose Cross (who played last night but has been banged up), Mills (out for season), Morrison (likely first rounder, had season ending hip surgery in November), Kiser, and Watts (huge loss, obviously - one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen in an ND uniform). Everyone else comes back. We have a lot of young talent on D that has played a ton of snaps due to injuries, and I trust Golden a lot, but losing Morrison and Watts will hurt. We’ll hit the portal for a DT or two, and our LB corps should be really good again - Kiser can be replaced.

Depending on how things come along with the QB spot + DT talent acquisition, I’d slot us anywhere between 3rd and 7th.

Alabama between 15-25

Well, well, well…

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