Auburn football: 25 things we want to see this season from Tigers

With the college football season weeks away from starting, let’s take a look at some things we’d like to see happen with Auburn football in 2018.

The goals have been in place. Win an SEC championship, reach the College Football Playoff.

Those should be what Auburn football strives for every season.

To get there, a lot of things have to happen on an individual and team level for the Tigers. Here are things I’d like to see during the upcoming season.

1. The Auburn offense comes out of the gate in Week 1 against Washington in midseason form and not in the let’s-figure-this-out-on-the-go form.
2. Anthony Schwartz in the open field with the ball in his hands.
3. Left tackle Prince Tega Wanogho elevates his game into future first-round status.
4. Jarrett Stidham breaks Dameyune Craig’s single-season record for passing yards.
5. T.D. Moultry and Big Kat Bryant play like the dominating physical specimens they have become and wreak havoc on opponents.
6. Someone emerges as a real threat on punt returns.
7. Arryn Siposs is the weapon at punter Auburn hasn’t had since Steven Clark in 2013.
8. Auburn football builds enough big first-half leads that we get to see what Malik Willis can do as a dual-threat quarterback for more than a spot series or two.
9. Shaun Shivers in the open field with the ball in his hands.
10. Auburn absorbs the losses of receivers Eli Stove and Will Hastings with other players (Devan Barrett, stash of freshman playmakers), allowing both players the opportunity to fully recover, receive redshirts and come back in 2019 at full strength.
11. That being said, we’d love to see Stove and Hastings on the field in 2018.
12. On third-and-6, Jarrett Stidham finds an Auburn tight end in the middle of the field for seven yards and a first down. Repeat.
13. After picking off just six passes last season, Auburn more than doubles that number.
14. One receiver becomes Auburn’s third 1,000-yard pass catcher in school history.
15. Another big season from Ryan Davis makes him Auburn’s first 200-reception receiver.
16. Stidham gets an invitation to Manhattan for the Heisman Trophy presentation.
17. Derrick Brown channels his inner Nick Fairley to become one of the game’s most dominating defensive linemen.
18. While Clemson’s defensive line (rightfully so) gets all the preseason accolades as the nation’s best, when the season ends, everyone knows that Auburn’s is just as good, if not better.
19. Bo Nix, Owen Pappoe and George Pickens show up at multiple home games this season and help bring home a Top 5 recruiting class for 2019.
20. Offensive coordinators have to game plan around Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe.
21. Anders Carlson’s kickoffs are touchbacks at least 75 percent of the time. Last season with his brother, Daniel, kicking, 69 percent were touchbacks.
22. An Auburn running back tops 1,000 yards for the 10th consecutive season.
23. Auburn averages more than 40 points per game, the most in the Gus Malzahn era.
24. The Iron Bowl arrives with the winner advancing to the SEC Championship Game.
25. Auburn reaches the College Football Playoff.

What are your expectations for 2018? Tell us what you’d like to see from this team.