Heading into the 2021 college season, Auburn football fans expect a step forward from the Tigers’ 6-5 finish to last season.
That said, a College Football Playoff appearance, an SEC Championship, or even finishing the season as a ranked team could be a tall order considering the ringer they’re set to be put through this season.
Between improved LSU, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss squads, another dominant offseason for annual rivals Alabama and Georgia, and a trip up north to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in one of college football’s more hostile environments, the going is almost guaranteed to get pretty tough.
The reason why victory can’t be guaranteed for any of the aforementioned foes the Auburn football program will be matched up against this coming season is due to a handful of issues on the offensive side of the ball.
When All Auburn All Day–a Twitter account Big Game Boomer deemed the best Twitter account to follow for Tiger fans–asked fans to rank the biggest areas of concern, the offensive line was overwhelmingly seen as the most significant:
How would you rank these Auburn Football concerns from most concerning to least?
— Kyle (@AllAubarn) July 6, 2021
1. QB play
2. WR experience
3. Pass protection
4. Pass rush
1. Pass pro
— Bad Freeze Puns (@Jonny_Dent) July 6, 2021
2. Pass rush
3. QB play
4. WR exp
Pass pro has been such a big issue for so long now and it's necessary to run the type of offense needed to win these days. We've been lackluster in pass rush too and that's what's needed to get back to elite on defense.
— Bad Freeze Puns (@Jonny_Dent) July 6, 2021
3,4,2,1
— GrAUnd ThAUft AUto 🦚 (@taunybaurnhard) July 6, 2021
But 1 is affected by 3
Pass protection
— Tiger3P 🏴☠️ (@Tiger3P) July 6, 2021
QB play
Pass rush
WR exp
Pass protection
— William Luke Hendrick (@WilliamLH21) July 6, 2021
QB Play
WR Experience
Pass rush
3, then 1, every year, for as long as I can remember.
— Michael Sumners (@michaelsumners7) July 6, 2021
Pass protection
— Holt Thomas (@crime_alley) July 6, 2021
QB play
Everything else.
1. Pass Protection
— Tony Perry (@TonyTheAUTiger) July 6, 2021
2.
3.
4. QB Play
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. WR Experience
11.
.
.
.
.
.
50. Pass Rush
The Tigers possess four 4-star athletes on the OL but despite three of them being upperclassmen, pass protection has been an issue the past several years…to the point that Auburn football fans saw shades of Bo Nix in Patrick Mahomes as he repeatedly was hit during this past Super Bowl.
While Tank Bigsby is optimistic about the OL in 2021, Tiger fans don’t share that viewpoint.