Auburn Football: 5 Bold predictions for Tigers in 2018

5. Auburn misses the CFB Playoff, again

It’s going to hard enough for Auburn to get through their conference slate undefeated. They’ll face two of last season’s four Playoff teams in their conference schedule – Alabama and Georgia. One loss in SEC play, possibly to Georgia, and another in the non-conference portion of the schedule will be enough to keep an extremely talented Auburn team outside the top four once again.

They get two cupcake games at home. Their home opener is on Sep. 8 against Alabama State and they’ll have a tune-up game before the  Iron Bowl at home against Liberty. It’s their season opener that could prove to be the difference. The Tigers kick off the 2018 season in Atlanta against the Washington Huskies.

Auburn started slow in 2017, failing to get into the endzone against Clemson. By the time the regular season was winding down they were able to soundly beat both Alabama and Georgia. For whatever reason Gus Malzahn is going to need some time to work out the kinks.

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2017 saw a clustering of several good but not great teams. Michigan State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Miami and USC all had scattered playoff hopes but were always on the periphery, never able to get over the hump. Auburn came within one more win in the SEC title game, but fell short. The same story repeats itself in 2018.