Preseason Way too early 2019 rankings

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Where Auburn ranks in way-too-early 2019 top-25 projections

Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Updated 9:33 AM; Posted 8:49 AM

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn will lead the Tigers into his seventh season on the Plains in 2019.

The 2018 football season came to an end Monday night, when Clemson demolished previously undefeated and top-ranked Alabama in the College Football Playoff final. While there are still nearly eight months before the 2019 season gets underway -- an Aug. 24 matchup between Arizona and Hawaii will mark the start of the season -- it’s never too early to take a gander at 2019.

OK, maybe it is too early, but still, that doesn’t prevent publications from putting together way-too-early top-25 predictions in the hours that follow the final whistle of the national championship game. Auburn will be coming off an 8-5 campaign (finishing the season unranked in the final AP poll) when it opens the 2019 season in Arlington, Texas, against Oregon on Aug. 31 to kick off Gus Malzahn’s seventh season as head coach, when he will take over full control of offensive play-calling again. The Tigers will be looking for a new answer at quarterback and need to replace their top-two receivers following the departures of Ryan Davis and Darius Slayton. They’ll also have to replace their starting linebacker corps, four-year defensive tackle starter Dontavius Russell and starting cornerback Jamel Dean.

So, where do experts see Auburn starting the year in the polls? Here’s a roundup of where the Tigers checked in on many way-too-early top-25 lists:

-- AL.com: 22nd

-- Sports Illustrated: 19th

-- USA Today: Unranked

-- ESPN: 23rd

-- The Athletic: 13th

-- 247Sports: 22nd

-- SB Nation: 13th

-- Yahoo! Sports: Unranked

-- Athlon Sports: 23rd

-- Dallas Morning News: 21st

-- Sporting News: 16th

-- Watch Stadium: 24th

-- Orlando Sentinel: 19th