Positives: All-SEC kicker, strong return game, good bye week
Negatives: Coach on hot seat, strength of schedule, no home-run threat
ESPN rates the Tigers’ schedule the sixth-toughest in America, and we’re not sure that’s high enough. They play both 2015 national championship game participants, including the opener at home against Clemson. There are nine bowl teams, seven of which won 9-plus games, and road trips to Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss.
At least the bye week comes at exactly the halfway point to allow for some regrouping.
That’s the theme of this season, with only 11 returning starters and Gus Malzahn coaching to save his job after consecutive dips in the record. But maybe Auburn isn’t as far off as it seems. The Tigers had seven games decided by a single possession last year, losing four of them.
Just a handful of plays might’ve changed the whole vibe for Auburn, meaning it needs to build on a solid 48.7 percent fumble-recovery rate and (barely) positive turnover margin — and find other slight edges to turn games.
While an explosive offensive threat has yet to reveal itself, special teams are a plus: All-SEC kicker Daniel Carson (23 of 27 FG last year) and a pair of dangerous return men. Kerryon Johnson led the West as a freshman with six kickoff returns of 30 yards or longer, while Jonathan Ford was ninth nationally at 28.7 yards per return.
Negatives: Coach on hot seat, strength of schedule, no home-run threat
ESPN rates the Tigers’ schedule the sixth-toughest in America, and we’re not sure that’s high enough. They play both 2015 national championship game participants, including the opener at home against Clemson. There are nine bowl teams, seven of which won 9-plus games, and road trips to Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss.
At least the bye week comes at exactly the halfway point to allow for some regrouping.
That’s the theme of this season, with only 11 returning starters and Gus Malzahn coaching to save his job after consecutive dips in the record. But maybe Auburn isn’t as far off as it seems. The Tigers had seven games decided by a single possession last year, losing four of them.
Just a handful of plays might’ve changed the whole vibe for Auburn, meaning it needs to build on a solid 48.7 percent fumble-recovery rate and (barely) positive turnover margin — and find other slight edges to turn games.
While an explosive offensive threat has yet to reveal itself, special teams are a plus: All-SEC kicker Daniel Carson (23 of 27 FG last year) and a pair of dangerous return men. Kerryon Johnson led the West as a freshman with six kickoff returns of 30 yards or longer, while Jonathan Ford was ninth nationally at 28.7 yards per return.
