Head coach Bryan Harsin had a tough first year as the Auburn football program’s head coach. With staff turnover during the season to coaching the Tigers to their first losing season since 2012 to the controversy that dominated the Plains early on in the offseason, it has not been an easy road so far.
Despite the various positive changes that Harsin has made to the program since the end of the 2021 season, there is still widespread doubt about the ability of Auburn football to be successful in the 2022 season. Many have predicted that the Tigers will lose the SEC West, and now CBS Sports believes that Auburn won’t even be bowl-eligible following the 2022 season.
CBS Sports Bowl Expert Jerry Palm released his projected bowl game matchups for the 2022 postseason, and Auburn football was not one of the 82 programs in his predictions. To be bowl-eligible in the postseason, programs usually need to have at least six wins on the season. Essentially, Palm expects that the Tigers will end the season with even fewer wins than last year.
Out of the Southeastern Conference, Auburn was one of just three teams that Palm did not see playing in a bowl game this year. The other two are Vanderbilt and Missouri. And, naturally, Palm expects both Alabama and Georgia to make it to the College Football Playoffs.
Palm’s projection may be one of the most stinging that the Tigers have received during the months leading up to Harsin’s second season. People all over the country really expect that Auburn will have another bad year despite so many changes between the coaching staff and the starting lineups.
However, the Auburn football players have heard all the negativity, and they are determined to prove the world wrong this fall. With five straight home games to begin the 2022 season, the Tigers are hoping to have five wins under their belts before they ever leave the Plains.