The Auburn Tigers are entering year two of the Hugh Freeze era as we get set for the season just a few weeks away.

While most Tiger fans gave Freeze a pass for the 6-7 record in his first season on The Plains, progress must be shown in year two. Freeze has done an incredible job of creating momentum on the recruiting trail, but it’s time to turn that momentum into proof of concept in terms of on-field development and progress.

After all, one or two good classes do not build a championship program. It takes years and years of consistent dominance on the trail, which can only be achieved by showing it on the field as well.

An Auburn schedule is never going to be easy, but make no mistake: Compared to the rest of their schedule, the first month of the season for the Tigers should be a cakewalk.

For one, Auburn does not go on the road for the entire month of September. Opening the season with Alabama A&M will, of course, be an easy win, and handling business the following week against Cal at home should not be an issue either.

After that, it’s New Mexico, which should be another easy win. From that point forward, it gets very real with SEC play beginning.

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The good news is that the Tigers begin conference play with another extremely manageable matchup when they face the Arkansas Razorbacks, predicted to be one of the worst teams in the SEC, at home once again.

There is absolutely no reason for Auburn not to head into their fifth game, another home matchup this time against Oklahoma, at 4-0.

After the first four games, it becomes an immediate war of attrition, starting with the Sooners, followed by trips to Georgia, Missouri, and Kentucky.

As nice as starting the season with all home games is, it comes back around with the fact that the Tigers don’t have a home game in the entire month of October.

The schedule thins out after that with games against Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe, but finishes with Texas A&M and Alabama.

Auburn doesn’t need to win 10 games in 2024 for fans to be satisfied, but in order to give themselves any chance to compete, they simply must win the first four.