Auburn Football: Game-by-game predictions for Tigers in 2018
The Iron Bowl will be held on Nov. 24, the Saturday after Thanksgiving and this will be the biggest match-up of the season. The Tigers schedule has to be in the top five in the country with Auburn facing Washington, Georgia and Alabama and all three games are held away from Jordan-Hare Stadium. Both programs will enter the contest ranked in the top five of the polls and with the SEC West crown on the line.
In 2017, Auburn pounded Alabama 26-14 in a major upset, yet the Crimson Tide still slipped back into the College Football Playoff and Nick Saban won his sixth championship as a college football head coach. The Crimson Tide offense returns seven starters with two elite quarterbacks in Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts, and two elite backs in Damien Harris and Najee Harris.
Expect Alabama’s offense to focus more on the running game with four returning linemen as well. The Tide will have to replace Calvin Ridley but by the final week of the season, Jerry Jeudy will have emerged as another star pass catcher in Tuscaloosa. The Tigers will have their hands full with stopping the Alabama offense which will grind away at the Tigers.
The Auburn offense will face only three returning starters from the 2017 Iron Bowl victory against the Tide. Bama does return defensive end Raekwon Davis who logged 69 tackles and 8.5 sacks in 2017. However, the entire back eight will be new blood, no matter how talented- it’s hard to be the top-rated defense per the S&P+ two seasons in a row with all of that talent turnover and new coordinators once again.
The 2018 Iron Bowl won’t be a blowout, it’ll be a close game that goes down to the final two minutes and Auburn will emerge victorious. Auburn hasn’t won back-to-back Iron Bowls since Nick Saban arrived on campus halfway through the 2007 season.