Auburn’s win in Athens should have been enough to jolt the Tigers into the AP Poll, but that’s not how voters saw it after Week 7.
Alex Golesh’s team stunned then-No. 1 Georgia on Saturday, taking down the Bulldogs on the road for Auburn’s first such win over its bitter rival since 2005. The victory pushed Auburn to 4-2 and sets up a key home matchup with LSU next.
Still, when the latest poll came out Sunday, Auburn was left unranked. The Tigers finished third in the “receiving votes category,” trailing Oklahoma State and Oregon and finishing ahead of James Madison and Mississippi State.
That decision immediately sparked pushback from fans who couldn’t make sense of Auburn’s place outside the rankings after beating the top team in the country.
Some pointed to other SEC teams holding spots ahead of Auburn, arguing that one of them should have been knocked out to make room for the Tigers. Others said the omission was further proof of bias against the program.
“Mizzou and Georgia should’ve definitely dropped more if you are gonna ranked them that high still why not put auburn in the rankings and take our mizzou? https://t.co/iK3WvsThnZ”
“Bama, LSU, Texas, Florida, and Missouri all SEC teams with 2 losses are ranked. Auburn, with 2 quality losses and the only one with a win over the #1 team in the nation, not ranked.
The bias against Auburn is real. Don’t tell me it isn’t.”
“So Auburn beats the #1 team in the country on the road, has the same number of losses as #13, #18, #19, #20 and #22, and we cant even get the #25 spot?! Number 1 loses to an unranked team at home and only drops FOUR spots??
Lol. @AP this is a joke pic.twitter.com/Wwi1aqXIM1”
The confusion also extended to Texas, Florida and Missouri, with fans questioning how Auburn’s victory over Florida, and Florida’s win over Texas, didn’t lead to a clearer reshuffling among those teams.
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