Auburn football: FanSided forecasts a fourth place SEC West finish for AU

No one is quite sure where to put Auburn football in the pre-season predictions. Some think that first-year head coach Bryan Harsin will make a big splash and finish the 2021 season with a better record than that of Gus Malzahn last year. Others harp on the fact that teams cannot be at their best in the first year of a coaching transition.

Earlier this week, Twitter user Big Game Boomer released their ceiling and floor predictions for every team, giving the Tigers a ceiling of 8-4 and a floor of 7-5. Auburn football has been stuck all over the place in the rankings, with a 247 Sports poll predicting a 5th place SEC finish five weeks ago and then last week claiming they would finish 10th.

The latest publication to predict an outcome of Auburn football’s season is our own FanSided network. Author Ethan Lee predicted the order of finish in both the SEC East and West, suggesting the Tigers will finish fourth in the SEC West behind Alabama, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss.

"SEC WestAlabamaTexas A&MOle MissAuburnLSUMississippi StateArkansas"

According to Lee, the Crimson Tide will remain on the throne as long as Bryce Young lives up to the hype, but Texas A&M could challenge them for the crown if they have a successful quarterback in either Haynes King or Zach Calzada.

Why will Ole Miss beat out the Tigers? Apparently, Matt Corral at the QB1 position combined with Lane Kiffin’s schemes will be enough to make the Rebels competitive despite the question marks on their defense. As for Auburn?

"I think Auburn is in for a bit of an up and down season with a first-year head coach, but I suspect the Tigers will be very good in the somewhat near future. Moving on from Gus Malzahn was a bit of an odd move from the outside looking in, but Bryan Harsin was a very good hire. It may not always be fun for Auburn fans this year, but it will be fascinating to see how Harsin’s Tigers look against the better teams in the SEC this year."

Will Bryan Harsin’s Auburn football team be more competitive than Guz Malzahn’s? The answer to that question lies in the season, and how many wins he can pull off. Fans were unhappy with a 6-5 season, so he has to do better than that in 2021.