The Auburn Tigers start the third season of the Hugh Freeze era in just a few short weeks with Freeze under more pressure than he has been throughout his entire career.

While the results have not been there so far, Freeze has overhauled the roster over the last two years and his team is by far the most equipped they have been in his time there to win this year.

Auburn does not need to win the national title for it to be a successful season and the fanbase to believe they are going in the right direction under Freeze, but improvement does need to be shown, even against an always brutal schedule. Losses are inevitable, but where could the first one come for Auburn?

Here are three possibilities and a prediction:

Week 1: August 29, @ Baylor

Auburn gets their season started with a major challenge on the road on a Friday night against a Baylor Bears team who has an experienced returning quarterback in Sawyer Robertson and could be one of the main contenders in the Big 12 Conference. The Bears will be favored if ever so slightly, and the Tigers have a chance to show that they are ready to turn things around this year.

A loss sets an immensely negative tone early, but it cannot be dismissed as not a realistic possibility.

Weeks 4 and 5: Sept. 20 @ Oklahoma, Sept. 27 @ Texas A&M

The good news for Auburn is that if they can get through Baylor with a win, they are likely to start 3-0 with home games against Ball State and South Alabama over the next two. The bad news though is that their next three games are an absolutely brutal gauntlet before things start to settle down in the middle of the season with a very manageable schedule before the Iron Bowl.

Both the Sooners and the Aggies provide insanely raucous environments, and extra pressure will be on the Tigers’ new quarterback Jackson Arnold after he transferred from Oklahoma this offseason and is making his return. Texas A&M is sure to have an incredible defense once again as well, and getting a win there is going to be a massive challenge.

The reality here is that a 1-1 split of these two games would be a wonderful result, but winning both is going to be an incredibly tall task.

Week 7: October 11 vs. Georgia

Auburn’s reward for getting through their first bye week unscathed and off what would be their best start in over a decade should they somehow enter this game undefeated? Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. It should be noted that two years ago in Freeze’s first year, they were very much in the game late in the fourth quarter before Brock Bowers took over for Georgia and almost single-handedly won the game.

Getting the Bulldogs at home in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry always gives Auburn a chance, but they have not done it since 2017 and a loss is more likely than not here.

Prediction

Auburn heads to Waco week one and gets the victory in an early season classic, establishing that they are not the same team they have been and are ready to make some noise this year. Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s new quarterback John Mateer proves to be too much for the Tigers to overcome and out-duels Arnold, leaving Auburn at 3-1 headed to College Station desperate for a victory over Texas A&M.

A 5-0 start just is not very realistic, but a 3-0 start and potentially even 4-1 headed into a massive rivalry game is very much on the table here.