SEC Football: Predicting the 2023 SEC standings and final rankings
By Kevin Miller
2023 SEC Football Standings No. 12 (and 7th in the SEC West):
Auburn Tigers
It’s been a tough time lately for the fans of the Auburn Tigers. The team’s two biggest rivals (Alabama and Georgia) have had their program’s most successful stretches ever and have won seven National Championships since Auburn’s last title. In contrast, the Tigers are on their fourth head coach in the last eleven seasons.
Auburn has not been Auburn for the last three seasons. 19 losses in a 3-year span are the most on the Plains since the 1970s, and the desperate Tigers hired the polarizing Hugh Freeze to come in and fix the mess left by Bryan Harsin’s two seasons.
Despite finishing 5-7 last season, Auburn was somehow worse than that. The Tigers finished 87th nationally last year in scoring offense and 98th in the country in scoring defense.
Auburn brought in former Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne in hopes of having consistent quarterback play for the first time since Jarrett Stidham moved on to the NFL after the 2018 season.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Thorne cannot help the defense stop the run, and with a schedule that includes Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Ole Miss, the 2022 team’s weakness will be exposed again in 2023 without major improvement.
Auburn will be better in 2023 than they were in 2022, but it might not matter for the record since they play in a juggernaut SEC West, take a weird trip out west to play Cal, and have to face rival Georgia from the East. If War Eagle can climb out of the cellar in the SEC West, it would be a big step forward in year 1 of the Hugh Freeze era.
PREDICTION
Overall 6-6; SEC Football: 2-6
UMass (W), @California (W), Samford (W), @Texas A&M (L), Georgia (L), @LSU (L), Ole Miss (W), Mississippi State (L), @Vanderbilt (W), @Arkansas (L), New Mexico State (W), Alabama (L)