The Auburn Tigers are just a few weeks away from putting toe to leather on year two of the Hugh Freeze era.
The first season under Freeze saw some ups and downs, but ended poorly with a disastrous loss to New Mexico State, a heartbreaking end to the Iron Bowl, and a disgraceful performance in the Music City Bowl against Maryland.
The Tigers are ready to put the end of the 2023 season behind them and turn the page to 2024, and Freeze has created momentum on the recruiting trail this offseason the likes of which maybe have never been seen before at Auburn.
But now it’s time to prove it on the field and show improvement from a 6-7 2023 season.
Auburn should start out with a 3-0 record and three easy wins with Alabama A&M, Cal, and New Mexico all at home. Game four comes at home as well against Arkansas, who the Tigers drubbed last season in Fayetteville. This should make for a 4-0 start.
After this, things get very real with yet another home game, but this time against a formidable opponent in Oklahoma. I like Auburn’s chances here in the first-ever road SEC game for the Sooners, giving the Tigers a 5-0 start.
After this, it’s a trip to Athens, where Auburn has not won since 2005, to face Georgia. This will be a loss. 5-1 The Tigers do not have a home game in the entire month of October and will get a bye week before heading to Missouri, where they will also lose to a fellow Tigers team that is suddenly among the contenders in the SEC. 5-2.
Auburn handles their business in the next two games at Kentucky and home against Vanderbilt to get to 7-2 before another bye week headed into the final stretch.
It’s another easy home victory against Louisiana-Monroe to get to 8-2 before the Texas A&M Aggies come to town and defeat Auburn on their way to being one of the surprise teams in the conference to put the Tigers at 8-3.
Following this, it’s the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa, where Alabama will be victorious once again and put the Tigers’ regular season record at a very respectable 8-4.
From here, Auburn goes to a decent bowl and performs much better than last year, winning their final game, showing serious progress on the year from the previous season, and finishing with a 9-4 record and a ton of momentum headed into 2025.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
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