Can Auburn Still Make the College Football Playoff?

AUBURN, Ala.- With the Tigers falling to 3-2 on the season, the Auburn Tigers finds themselves in a dilemma. But one question still lingers for Tigers fans: can Auburn still make the College Football Playoffs? Mathematically, it is still possible. But they need to win out and need a little bit of assistance. 

Currently, Auburn finds itself outside of the AP poll. However, their two losses have come from two top-six teams, being No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 6 Texas A&M. When both teams defeated Auburn, it launched their AP Poll ranking from No. 11 to No. 7 (Oklahoma) and from No. 9 to No. 6 (Texas A&M). If Auburn could have won at least one of these games, they could still be in the top 25 and potentially in the top 15.

The remaining schedule for Auburn is as follows:

• No. 12 Georgia
• No. 19 Missouri
• @ Arkansas
• Kentucky
• @ Vanderbilt
• Mercer
• No. 10 Alabama

The Tigers have plenty of ranked games still on the schedule, and cannot afford to drop any of them. It all starts with the Tigers’ matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs, which comes on Oct. 11 after this week's bye week.

Auburn is currently sitting at 0-2 in conference play, second to the bottom of the conference standings. If they were to win out, they have a real chance at being in the conversation of playing in the SEC championship, barring some teams losing some games. 

If they were to make the SEC championship, a win would clinch a bid to the playoff. The only time Auburn has even sniffed the college football playoff is in 2014 and 2017. Other than those two years, Auburn has not been in the consideration of the College Football Playoff or been in a situation where they control their own fate. 

If the Tigers were to win out, they would have a 10-2 record with (as it stands right now) four ranked wins, with two of them being in the top-12. The Tigers are currently out of the picture, but have seven more opportunities to prove to the college football world that they belong. If the offensive woes actually get addressed during this idle week, then Auburn has a serious chance to contend in this gauntlet SEC conference. 

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