Auburn Football: 3 reasons to watch Music City Bowl vs. Purdue
By Phil Poling
No. 3: Power Five vs. Power Five
Bowl season is always intriguing for one simple reason: Power Five programs from different conferences clash. Both Auburn and Purdue each met Power Five programs during their non-conference slate, but those all happened early on in the season. It’s time to see who’s progressed.
Purdue battled two P5 programs in the non-conference: the Missouri Tigers from the SEC, and the Boston College Eagles from the ACC. Missouri defeated the hosting Boilermakers, 40-37, while Boston College dropped their game in West Lafayette, Indiana to Purdue, 30-13.
Auburn, on the other hand, benefited greatly from the scheduling of the SEC. While every other P5 program, minus the ACC, plays a nine-game conference schedule, the SEC and ACC play only eight. This means they rarely see an opponent from the opposite division, and they get to schedule another non-conference team, which usually ends up being a cupcake. In 2018, Auburn’s non-conference schedule looked like this: Washington (neutral site), non-major Alabama State, Conference USA’s Southern Mississippi, and Independent Liberty.
The Tigers, however, did take care of business against their big non-conference opponent, defeating the Washington Huskies 21-16. But for those of us who watched the PAC-12 Championship Game: how good are the Huskies, actually?
These end-of-season bowl games give an opportunity for not only the team’s playing to add another win to their resumes, but for the conference’s they represent to measure themselves against their Power Five peers.