Heading into the 2026 season, it is safe to say that many fans have had a love/hate relationship with Auburn football for at least the past five years. There have been a few highs and way too many lows, and there has been a lot of disappointment.
On Tuesday, On3's Bett McMurphy released his list of the preseason AP Top 25 Poll's most overrated and underrated teams. The Auburn Tigers landed at the very top of the most overrated list.
NEW: AP Poll Voters’ Most Overrated Preseason College Football Teams since 2014😬
— On3 (@On3) August 18, 2026
(via @Brett_McMurphy) https://t.co/PMVgGk5im3 pic.twitter.com/B7ARASvgP2
Now, Auburn fans may be thinking, how can a team be overrated when they haven't done anything to write home about in at least five years? But according to McMurphy's definition, it may be difficult to argue against Auburn's No. 1 ranking.
McMurphy defines overrated as teams that "start the season ranked but fail to meet expectations." Auburn hasn't been ranked in the AP preseason poll since 2020, and the last three times the Tigers were in the preseason top 11 in 2015, 2018 and 2020 they finished the season unranked.
The 2026 Preseason AP Top 25 poll dropped earlier this week, and despite the fact that Auburn football has not had a winning season in five years, the Tigers still somehow received three votes to make the list.
For the past five years, there has always been some new "thing" that enables Auburn football fans (myself included) to hope that things will improve and be different, and each year, they have failed to meet expectations.
Are the Auburn Tigers underrated in 2026?
Despite being the nation's most overrated team according to McMurphy's definition, it's clear that no one is overrating the Tigers as they prepare for new head coach Alex Golesh's first season on the Plains.
At SEC Media Days, Auburn was ranked as the No. 12 team in the conference by media in attendance at the event. In On3's SEC preseason power rankings, the Tigers came in at spot No. 13. CBS Sports ranked SEC coaches earlier this month, and ranked Golesh at No. 12, ahead of only Pete Golding, Ryan Silverfield, Jeff Lebby and Will Stein.
In the midst of another rebuilding year for Auburn football, fans are simply hopeful to see any sort of improvement from last year's offense. And if you start the year with low expectations, it has to be pretty hard to fail to meet them. Maybe the Tigers can work on improving their overrated status in Golesh's first season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google