'No reason' Auburn football shouldn't be 4-0 heading into Oklahoma game

The Oklahoma game is being billed as the Auburn football program's biggest on the Plains early this Fall.

First, Hugh Freeze sent a friendly warning to the Sooners ahead of their first road game as an SEC program in Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 28.

“You’re adding two of the elite programs in the country to this already-difficult — what I think is the best — conference in America,” Freeze said of Texas and Oklahoma on their second official day in the SEC (h/t AL.com). “It does make it difficult, but that’s also exciting and why as a coach and as a player you want to play in this conference.

“Well, Jordan-Hare, I think, will provide for (Oklahoma) a great challenge."

Now, Crain & Company's Jake Crain is calling his shot and predicting a 4-0 Tigers team as OU touches down in East Central Alabama.

"No reason Auburn shouldn’t be 4-0, ranked in the top 25 and juiced when Oklahoma comes to town," Crain said.

Auburn football facing downtrodden programs to kick off 2024 season

Auburn is in an even year, and these days that means five straight home games to start the season. That certainly helps Crain's cause, as does the fact that two of the Tigers' first four games will be against an FCS team (Alabama A&M) and the eight-years-running-downtrodden New Mexico Lobos; not to be confused with New Mexico State, the 2023 season's Week 12 David of the week that took down a Goliath three-touchdown favorite Auburn.

Not only that, but Cal and Arkansas don't figure to be much of a challenge in Week 2 and Week 4. Of course, any given Saturday and all that, but Justin Wilcox has had a middling program for most of his time running the Golden Bears and Sam Pittman is on his last legs with the Hogs.

AU is on the precipice of perhaps its best post-NIL season under Freeze, who now has his guy in OC Derrick Nix and a pair of proven entities at defensive coordinator with Ozark's Charles Kelly and DJ Durkin.