UAB head coach: Blazers’ Playoff road easier than Auburn’s

UAB head coach Trent Dilfer feels that the Blazers have an easier road to the College Football Playoff in 2024 when the field expands to 12 teams than Auburn football does — not directly saying as much, but mentioning that the AAC doesn’t require one go through Alabama and Georgia, the Tigers’ locked-in annual opponents, in an interview with On3’s Andy Wittry.

“I would argue our conference is probably the best chance to get to the College Football Playoff when it expands,” Dilfer said. “It’s an automatic berth. You don’t have to beat Alabama to get there or Georgia.”

Dilfer snubbed Auburn but told Wittry that UAB does have to fend off the top teams from the SEC and ACC for his recruits due to the modern rules of the transfer portal and NIL.

“I’m not competing against Tulane and UTSA for retention,” Dilfer said. “I’m competing against Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Clemson, South Carolina, right? That’s who I’m competing against.”

Trent Dilfer taking tips from the past few cycles of Auburn football recruiting for UAB

Dilfer is aiming to do for his first UAB recruiting class what Hugh Freeze and Bryan Harsin were forced to do the last couple of cycles for Auburn football: import talent from the JUCO scene and the transfer portal to build a class on the fly. That’s the best course of action for Dilfer, who is leading a Group of Five program in a mid-sized market with limited NIL funds to spend.

That the last few Tigers coaches had to do so is an indictment of how far AU had fallen over the past several years, losing the same recruiting battles with the same schools Dilfer mentioned. Hopefully, Dilfer’s strategy to raise UAB isn’t one Auburn will be forced to deal with in the future.