Auburn football: 3 potential trap games on the 2021 schedule

Only three more Saturdays have to pass before Auburn football could open up Jordan-Hare Stadium to a full capacity crowd against the Akron Zips on a humid September night on the Plains.

Luckily, one of those weekends will even feature the return of full stadium football elsewhere, with Nebraska/Illinois and UCLA/Hawaii headlining the week zero slate at the end of August.

College football is almost upon us, and around this neck of the woods, a renewed sense of optimism is coupled with tempered expectations heading into year one of Bryan Harsin’s tenure as Auburn football’s head coach.

The Tigers aren’t expected to take a step forward by many, with Al.com setting the bar below Ole Miss this upcoming season. Others, like Jboy, see a fourth-place SEC West finish being the more likely scenario.

A week-by-week approach never hurt anyone, and at this point in the preseason, scanning the schedule for potential trap games seems like a good way to spend a Monday morning.

Shall we?

Potential Auburn football trap game #1: Georgia State

This one is not too tough to figure out. Already considered a precarious landmine on AU’s slate by SI, Georgia State comes from the Sun Belt having just knocked off the Tennessee Volunteers two years ago on Rocky Top.

Sandwiched between a Week 3 trip to Beaver Stadium to take on a Penn State Nittany Lions team empowered by a whited-out crowd and a Week 5 adventure to the Bayou to face an LSU Tigers squad they haven’t beaten in Death Valley in several years, Georgia State is a non-conference matchup that could sneak up on a Tigers team not paying enough attention.