Auburn’s Week 1 opponent has analyst bullish besides Power Five matchups

UMass, the Week 1 opponent of Hugh Freeze’s first season in charge of the Auburn football program, has MassLive’s Matt Vautour bullish on the Minutemen’s 2023 season — beyond, of course, their trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 2 and Happy Valley to face Penn State on October 14.

“(UMass) didn’t score their 41st point in 2022 until October,” Vautour prefaced before saying, “Now there’s hope in their hearts and a win over a bona fide FBS team and it’s not even September yet. UMass can go into Auburn next week with nothing to lose and the rest of the season feeling confident.

“After that, who knows what UMass can be? They’re almost certainly not going to beat Auburn or Penn State but there are wins to be had against Merrimack, New Mexico, Arkansas State, Miami (Ohio), Eastern Michigan, UConn or Army.”

Auburn football Week 1 opponent’s head coach ready for the challenge

Second-year UMass head coach Don Brown has already tied his win total from a season ago, and ahead of the Minutemen’s second-biggest challenge on the 2023 schedule — Penn State is ranked No. 7 and knocked off the Tigers the last two years, that statement is undisputed as of this writing — Brown is feeling ready to take on all comers.

“I’ve been through the thick and thin of this game,” Brown prefaced before saying, “I love the challenge. I’m not afraid of the challenge. But it’s nice to see the guys bear the fruit from their labor. That’s what I feel good about. This is it, baby!

“I think we got a lot of ground to cover and there’s a lot of room to grow still. But you gotta play a game to kind of figure out what you can do and what you can’t do and what you gotta get better at. That’s what we’re working on. Don’t worry about the history and all that. We have a chance to do something special here this year.”

AU will be facing a confident UMass team riding high on a one-touchdown-underdog victory in Week 0 against New Mexico State in the Aggies’ first game in the Conference USA. The -37 isn’t looking great, as Opelika-Auburn News editor Justin Lee will tell you.

Proving him wrong would be a great way to roll the oak trees at Toomer’s for the first time this season.