Auburn entered preseason week with a blunt message from the SEC media: there’s work to do.
The Tigers were slotted ninth in Monday’s preseason poll, a middle-of-the-pack projection in a conference that should be brutal from top to bottom again. Junior point guard Tahaad Pettiford was Auburn’s only player to land on an All-SEC team, earning third-team honors.
Auburn also landed at No. 25 in this week’s preseason KenPom rankings, which placed the Tigers eighth among SEC teams.
For a little perspective, Kentucky finished ninth in the SEC last season and still went on to earn a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn, meanwhile, entered last year picked sixth in the league but finished 12th at 7-11 in SEC play and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.
Now the Tigers are trying to turn the page in Steven Pearl’s second season. Pettiford is back, Kevin Overton returns as well, and Auburn has added a group of newcomers as it pushes to get back to the Big Dance. It’s also Pearl’s first full offseason as head coach, after Bruce Pearl retired this time last year.
Tuesday brings Auburn to SEC Tipoff in Hoover, Alabama, and the Tigers will be back in Birmingham on Wednesday night for their first exhibition game at Boutwell Arena against Florida State.
The rest of the preseason SEC poll painted a wide-open picture at the top. Florida was picked first, followed by Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama. Vanderbilt came in sixth, Kentucky seventh, Missouri eighth and Auburn ninth.
Here’s how the preseason All-SEC teams and projected finish shook out:
First Team All-SEC: Rueben Chinyelu, Florida; Juke Harris, Tennessee; Thomas Haugh, Florida; Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State; Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt.
Second Team All-SEC: Amari Allen, Alabama; Alex Condon, Florida; Milan Momcilovic, Kentucky; Jordan Smith Jr., Arkansas; Matas Vokietaitis, Texas.
Third Team All-SEC: PJ Haggerty, Texas A&M; Malachi Moreno, Kentucky; Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn; David Punch, Texas; Billy Richmond III, Arkansas.
SEC Player of the Year: Thomas Haugh, Florida.
Predicted Order of Finish: 1.
Florida 2.
Texas 3.
Arkansas 4.
Tennessee 5.
Alabama 6.
Vanderbilt 7.
Kentucky 8.
Missouri 9.
Auburn 10.
Texas A&M 11.
Georgia 12.
Oklahoma 13.
Ole Miss 14.
LSU 15.
Mississippi State 16.
South Carolina
In Other News...
Georgias Alabama Escape Just Added More Fuel To Auburns Worry
Georgias 20-17 road win at Alabama didnt just shuffle the national picture, it also put another spotlight on a defender Auburn fans know well from the opposite sideline. The Bulldogs left Tuscaloosa as college footballs new No. 1 team, and one of the biggest flashpoints came on a disputed non-pass interference call involving KJ Bolden, a play that helped turn an already tense game into a talking point beyond the final score.
Bolden later said he would have wanted the call if the roles were reversed, which fit the competitive edge Georgia has leaned on all season from its young safety. Through five games, he has been one of the Bulldogs more active pieces on defense with 22 tackles and an interception, the kind of early-season production that only deepens Auburns concern about what Georgia is building on that side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Gets A Week 8 Setup Fans Will Be Watching Closely
The SEC has started to lay out Week 8, and with kickoff times now set, several league teams are staring at games that could ripple well beyond one Saturday. Auburn is among the programs feeling the weight of the schedule, since the Tigers are still trying to steady themselves in a conference race that has become increasingly crowded, while the leagues top contenders keep stacking high-stakes matchups around them.
For Auburn, the timing matters because the next stretch is going to reveal a lot about where the Tigers fit in the SEC hierarchy after the latest round of results. The broader league picture already has Texas, LSU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and others positioned in games with real College Football Playoff implications, so every week now comes with extra scrutiny and very little margin for error. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Run Game Problem Feels Bigger With Georgia Up Next
Auburns rushing attack has not given the offense the kind of dependable edge it needs through the first five games, and the issue has become impossible to ignore as the schedule stiffens. Quarterback Byrum Brown has led the team in rushing yards, a sign of both his versatility and the lack of consistent push from the backs, while offensive coordinator Joel Gordon has made it clear he wants more from the ground game even as the Tigers keep leaning into their identity.
Several running backs have taken turns trying to stabilize the production, but none has yet turned the backfield into a true strength. With Georgia next, the pressure only grows for Auburn to find something more reliable on the ground, because against a defense like that, the margin for a one-dimensional offense gets very thin very quickly. [Read more 🡒]