With Spring Practice in full swing, I make my annual SEC predictions for the upcoming 2016 football season.
The Auburn football team is going to be picked by a lot of people to rebound in 2016. Things went terribly wrong for Gus Malzahn and the Plainsmen, but it won’t deter people from being convinced Auburn will be substantially better. Could it be true? Sure, but I don’t know what people will base this claim on.
| Opponent | Home or Away | Predicted Outcome | Wins | Losses | SEC Wins | SEC Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson Tigers | Home | Loss | 1 | |||
| Arkansas State Red Wolves | Home | Win | 1 | |||
| Texas A&M Aggies | Home | Win | 2 | 1 | ||
| LSU Tigers | Home | Loss | 2 | 1 | ||
| ULM Warhawks | Home | Win | 3 | |||
| Mississippi State Bulldogs | Away | Loss | 3 | 2 | ||
| Arkansas Razorbacks | Home | Loss | 4 | 3 | ||
| Ole Miss Rebels | Away | Loss | 5 | 4 | ||
| Vanderbilt Commodores | Home | Win | 4 | 2 | ||
| Georgia Bulldogs | Away | Win | 5 | 3 | ||
| Alabama A&M Bulldogs | Home | Win | 6 | |||
| Alabama Crimson Tide | Away | Loss | 6 | 5 | ||
| Overall 6-6, SEC 3-5 |
The Auburn football team did get better by the end of the year last season, but I am far from convinced that we should expect a return to being one of the best teams in the division or country.
To be honest, I felt like I went out on a limb giving them wins over Texas A&M and Georgia. For now, I see the Auburn football team finding their way to a bowl, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they become the first SEC West team to miss a bowl game since the 2013 season.
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The lone caveat to all of this is Jeremy Johnson could always figure out a way to be everything people thought he was going to be when he was hyped so much before the 2015 season. Outside of that, I think the Auburn football coaching staff is going to be in for another long year in 2016.
And if they are, Gus Malzahn will be moved to the hot seat entering the 2017 season. And even typing that seems odd because it doesn’t seem that long ago, Gus Malzahn was leading the Auburn football team back to the promised land of the National Championship game. Things can turn very quickly in the world of college football.