Auburn’s shocking win over No. 1 Georgia has opened a door that nobody would have seriously discussed a few days ago: a real, if narrow, path to the College Football Playoff.
The Tigers are 4-2 after knocking off the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, a result that landed as one of the biggest jolts of the season. Auburn entered the game as a 20.5-point underdog and ESPN gave it just a 9.5% chance to win, which makes the upset even louder. For a team that had just come off a 24-14 loss to Tennessee, the turnaround in perception has been dramatic.
Still, the road ahead is brutally steep. Auburn’s next test comes Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Lane Kiffin and No.
18 LSU, a matchup that should bring one of the most electric crowds the Plains has seen in a long time. If Auburn beats LSU and backs up the Georgia win, the Tigers would almost certainly crack the AP Top 25 and likely land somewhere in the top 20.
A loss, though, would probably shut down any College Football Playoff talk and send Auburn to 4-3.
The challenge doesn’t let up after that. Auburn heads to Ole Miss next, and the Rebels are currently No. 7 in the AP Poll.
Ole Miss has one loss, and it also faces No. 19 Texas in Austin on Saturday, so its condition heading into the Auburn game is still a moving target.
If Auburn somehow handles LSU and Ole Miss, the Tigers would enter November at 6-2 and firmly in the mix. That would also mean a 3-1 mark through the toughest part of the schedule, which would put Golesh’s team in a very different conversation than the one it was having earlier this month.
Even if Auburn falls in Oxford, there’s still a version of this season that keeps the Tigers alive. A win over LSU followed by a loss to Ole Miss would still leave Auburn with Arkansas at home, Mississippi State on the road and Samford before the Iron Bowl. If the Tigers beat Arkansas and win in Starkville, Miss., they could potentially enter that rivalry game at 8-3.
That scenario would make the Iron Bowl look a lot bigger than anyone expected, maybe even a game with College Football Playoff implications. The source of all this is simple: in a league where the race is wide open and a three-loss SEC team making the playoff is possible, Auburn suddenly has a lane.
None of it is guaranteed. Auburn could keep the momentum rolling and stack another huge win, or it could lose the next two and drift back to .500. But after Saturday’s win over Georgia, the Tigers have something they haven’t had in years: a path, and a reason for real excitement.
In Other News...
Auburn Just Lost A Defensive Leader At The Worst Time
Xavier Atkins had become one of Auburns most important defensive pieces this season, so his dismissal from the football program lands at a particularly difficult moment. The junior linebacker had already built out a strong 2025 rsum and was part of the group helping stabilize a unit that needed dependable play at the second level.
Now Auburn has to move on without one of its top defensive leaders after his suspension during the win over Georgia. The Tigers will have to lean harder on the linebackers still standing, including sophomore Elijah Melendez, as they try to keep the defense steady with the schedule still moving fast. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Just Added More Intrigue To Auburn's LSU Showdown
Lane Kiffin has already started stirring the pot ahead of LSUs trip to Auburn, and in doing so he added another layer to a game that was already carrying plenty of weight. Kiffin said he was pulling for Auburn to knock off Georgia in the Tigers recent matchup because LSU is next on the schedule, and he also acknowledged how difficult it is to deal with Auburn at home. For Auburn fans, it was the kind of candid opponent commentary that only sharpens attention on a matchup that was already going to draw plenty of it.
The timing matters because LSU is trying to steady itself in the SEC, where recent losses have only increased the pressure around Kiffins tenure. Auburn, meanwhile, gets a chance to play spoiler on its own turf, with the ripple effects reaching far beyond one Saturday night. If LSU slips again, the impact would not stop at the standings, and the stakes around this one figure to keep rising the closer kickoff gets. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Delivered The Win That Changes Alex Golesh Expectations
Auburns 27-24 upset of No. 1 Georgia did more than snap a nine-game losing streak in the rivalry, it gave the program a result that instantly reframes what comes next under Alex Golesh. The Tigers took down a Georgia team that had been rolling under Kirby Smart, and they did it with Byrum Brown driving the offense and delivering the kind of balanced performance Auburn has been searching for.
Browns work as both a runner and passer helped Auburn keep the Bulldogs off balance, and his final drive was the one that mattered most in closing out the win. Golesh, after the game, pointed to the backing the program has received from former Auburn legends, a reminder that this kind of victory tends to bring the past and present together fast at a place where expectations never stay quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]