Joel Klatt believes in the Auburn Tigers. So much so that he projects AU to improve enough to potentially crash the College Football Playoff party this coming season.
Klatt declared the 2024 campaign was simply a rebuilding year for a program that relied heavily on freshmen.
"Let me tell you why I considered Auburn. Auburn last year, they had the most starts by freshmen of anybody in the Power 4. So this 5-7 season was in a large context, a learning year and a building year, and a developmental year for Auburn. Can they and will they improve on that? Well, absolutely, they can, and will they? Probably. Now 5-7 to into the playoffs," Klatt said on his podcast.
Defensively, Auburn is a College Football Playoff-caliber team. Keldric Faulk figures to be a game-changing athlete in the Tigers' pass rush, while the young secondary presumably takes a step forward with experience under their belts. DJ Durkin's defense should produce more points, which is something that side of the ball has lacked on the Plains for years.
Offensively, Jackson Arnold has the whole world in his hands. He can look like Baker Mayfield and restore glory to the Plains, or he can be handed the keys to a Cadillac Celestiq, in this case, an all-SEC receiving corps, and fail to get the engine running. Add in a running back room with no clear RB1, and the number of variables on that side of the ball is unsettling.
The good news? Klatt is one of the better educated guessers in college football. He predicted "Prime Time" coming to life in Boulder last season before Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes went 9-3 in the regular season.
Him seeing progression in Hugh Freeze's third year is a better case than one from practically any other analyst.