Where Would You Rank Auburn?

[Zeek 16,636]

Let's discuss how AUF sees the rankings. I'll give it a crack at making my rankings based off how I believe each team will finish the regular season.

1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Clemson

I think that being conference champions should mean something. Instead of letting 11-1 Alabama have a 'bye' they should be left out altogether. Yes Clemson's schedule is trash and Oregon has a loss to us but that was week 1 for the Ducks and the Crack Tigers are defending champions as well as undefeated.

5. Alabama

6. Penn State

7. Oklahoma

8. Auburn

Alabama's only loss will be to the #1 team so it's only natural they be the first ones out from the playoffs. We truly need an 8 team playoff. Penn State might well switch spots with Ohio State and Oklahoma is still a dynamic team (dear God don't let the Turds have another undeserved Heisman they should be at 0 in a fair world). I think the Sooners win out and try to do so with "style points" but ultimately the loss to Kansas State is worse than Oregon's loss to Auburn in week 1.

9. Georgia

10. Florida

11. Utah

12. Wisconsin

The truth is I think that Utah and Wisconsin will have better resumes then the three SEC teams ahead of them but I can't see them winning head-to-head; the talent is just too different. I am starting to convince myself that we might beat Georgia which should slide us above them and Florida (who I think we'd beat in a rematch). Georgia has the head-to-head against Florida thanks to SEC officiating and a fair share of luck. Wisconsin has the best RB in the country. Utah will lose to Oregon in an exciting PAC-12 championship.

13. Minnesota

14. Baylor

15. Boise State

16. Kansas State

Here is the group of 'honorable mention' type teams. I don't think they can hang with some of the above teams but they're solid nonetheless. Both Minnesota and Baylor have a chance to prove me wrong. Kansas State has beaten Oklahoma but I'm not sure they'd win in a rematch; the Sooner's defense isn't great but it would be hard to duplicate the upset. Boise State will have a solid record but I can't shake how much they struggled with an awful FSU team.

17. Memphis

18. UCF

19. SDSU

20. SMU

Here's my Group of 5 army. The only reason I have UCF below Memphis is that the Knights will need some help to reach the AAC championship game; a foolish loss to Cincinnati earlier in the year has them in a precarious position. However, if UCF makes it to the AACCG, I like their odds against Memphis. SDSU could finish the season (11-1) and SMU has some tough but manageable matchups left. The AAC is no joke this year.

21. Navy

22. Cincinnati

23. Wake Forest

24. Notre Dame

25. Texas A&M

Navy could very realistically finish (11-1) which would be astonishing. Cincinnati will crumble a little down the stretch. Wake Forest has had a good year proving just how weak the ACC is outside of Clemson. Truly didn't want to include Notre Dame but their final record will be too good enough to put them high up in most rankings (where they'll get murdered in a NY6 bowl). Texas A&M is just a team I really like. They've had a tough schedule this year and looked competent in most of their games.

[CAReeves2010 627]

A 3 loss AU ranked 8th seems too high considering a 10-2 uga, possible 1 or 2 loss wisconsin, baylor, utah, florida, etc. If AU loses to a 10-1 Alabama I think we're sitting around 15th come championship weekend. 

 

[Win4AU 4,052]

In July would most people have been cool with top 15 ranking and top 10 recruiting class?  I think the answer would have been yes considering there was a vocal group predicting 6-6.

[AUsince72 11,084]

If I'd only seen ESPN SC highlights, I'd have them ranked where they are.

Unfortunately, I've actually seen the whole games and understand bad personnel usage, poor situational awareness and lack of consistent offensive production against good teams vs mediocre/bad teams.

Therefore, since the Defense is ranked 28th in the nation and the Offense is ranked 50th, let's give them credit for at least only losing to 2 highly ranked teams so.....

FOUR?!?!

 

[AUGunsmith 666]

You're insane if you think Auburn is the 8th best team in the  nation.

[Beaker 2,457]

10-12 is probably legit.

 

The D is ranked like that because Steele has coached them to keep everything in front of them and don't give up big plays.   Look at LSU - they typically get a bunch of big plays and got what, one against Steele?   See what I mean.

The O - geez, what is their identity?  What will they roll out next week?  Who knows?

 

12 is my final answer.

 

 

[jared52 4,354]

Frankly, assuming AU loses to UGA and uat, their 4 losses will come to 4 top 10 teams. That's crazy. That said, they are ranked right for now, but will be 15-20 by season's end. If they had the schedule of everyone else in the top 10, they wouldn't be looking at 8-4. But you play the cards you are dealt.

[boisnumber1 2,818]

Don't agree at all with Oregon or Clemson in the top 4. They simply are not 2 of the top 4 teams. Clemson may get there by default, but that is all it would be. Yeah, they can't control their schedule, but tough s***. There will be 1 loss teams at season's end that deserve it more than Clemson imo regardless of what they do from here on out. They shouldn't get a pass. Better luck next year. And Oregon...top 10 @ best. As far as AU, 10-12 is fine. Even how the season has gone, if the offense miraculously found a heartbeat, we could win out because of the D (not that Im predicting that). If not, about 15 @ seasons end.

[BJCrawford 1,568]

This is kind of off topic but not completely......Barrett Salee said this morning on the radio (talking about rankings) if auburn played Oregon ten times Auburn would lose nine times. What? He was making a point for them to be in the top. 

[Linayus 676]

49 minutes ago, boisnumber1 said:

Don't agree at all with Oregon or Clemson in the top 4. They simply are not 2 of the top 4 teams. Clemson may get there by default, but that is all it would be. Yeah, they can't control their schedule, but tough s***. There will be 1 loss teams at season's end that deserve it more than Clemson imo regardless of what they do from here on out. They shouldn't get a pass. Better luck next year. And Oregon...top 10 @ best. As far as AU, 10-12 is fine. Even how the season has gone, if the offense miraculously found a heartbeat, we could win out because of the D (not that Im predicting that). If not, about 15 @ seasons end.

While I agree about Clemson not deserving it, they'll win their conference and there's no way the committee leaves them out as the defending champ. Lose a game though and they'll drop hard.

Oregon though? They've played very well this season and if they beat a good Utah team that easily places them in the top 4 in the final week as their only loss would be to us in the final seconds of the game in week one. That's a lot more forgivable than say Oklahoma's loss to K-State.

@Zeek - I have the same top 4 (in that order) but for Auburn to crack that top 10 we'd need to win out. We don't have any margin of error. Tonight though, I'd say they have us sitting at maybe 11 with Florida at 10. Baylor and Minnesota right behind at 12-13.

[boisnumber1 2,818]

41 minutes ago, Linayus said:

While I agree about Clemson not deserving it, they'll win their conference and there's no way the committee leaves them out as the defending champ. Lose a game though and they'll drop hard.

Oregon though? They've played very well this season and if they beat a good Utah team that easily places them in the top 4 in the final week as their only loss would be to us in the final seconds of the game in week one. That's a lot more forgivable than say Oklahoma's loss to K-State.

@Zeek - I have the same top 4 (in that order) but for Auburn to crack that top 10 we'd need to win out. We don't have any margin of error. Tonight though, I'd say they have us sitting at maybe 11 with Florida at 10. Baylor and Minnesota right behind at 12-13.

Oh, Im sure Clemson gets in. I just don't necessarily agree with it. As far as Oregon, we can agree to disagree. PAC12 is weak. No one in that conference is top 4... winning the league or not. If they just want to put conference winners in there, I suppose they could make it, but there are 5 teams in the SEC better than Oregon. 

[aucanucktiger 1,791]

#9

[JBiGGiE 2,488]

11th isn't ungenerous. While it was a loss on the road, we're capped by the loss to Florida. Crazily enough, a strong finish in these last few weeks with some not-too-unreasonable losses around the country, we could possibly end up in that 4 spot come the first week of December.

Still a long shot but it would be a wild ride!

[shabby 1,956]

right where they are. a good but not great team with the potential to knock of a top ranked team coming up

[aubiefifty 16,736]

numba one in my heart...............

[JDUBB4AU 5,110]

13 .

[McLoofus 35,182]

On 11/5/2019 at 3:40 PM, Win4AU said:

In July would most people have been cool with top 15 ranking and top 10 recruiting class?  I think the answer would have been yes considering there was a vocal group predicting 6-6.

That's why I don't get into W-L totals in the preseason. Our 2 losses happened unnecessarily and unacceptably. We have the talent to have won every game so far and we failed to do that because of poor offensive coaching. So no, I'm not cool with our record and ranking.

I'm always cool with a top 10 recruiting class, though.

[McLoofus 35,182]

22 hours ago, BJCrawford said:

This is kind of off topic but not completely......Barrett Salee said this morning on the radio (talking about rankings) if auburn played Oregon ten times Auburn would lose nine times. What? He was making a point for them to be in the top. 

He trolls us relentlessly. 

[Bottomfeeder 244]

18

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

1. Ohio State

2. LSU

3. Bama

4. Clemson

5. Penn State

6. Oregon 

7. Oklahoma 

8. Georgia 

9. Florida 

10. Auburn 

Ohio State is legit this season. Not the same Ohio State that’s usually overrated. I’ll be shocked if they’re not holding the trophy at the end of the year. Chase Young might be the only DL in the country that’s better than Derrick Brown. As much as I hate to admit it 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,648]

Like 13-15

[Mims44 1,867]

On 11/5/2019 at 4:21 PM, AUGunsmith said:

You're insane if you think Auburn is the 8th best team in the  nation.

 Not off by much though, at the moment I'd say 11th is around where AU should be. By seasons end depending on how things go I could see Auburn as high as top 5 or as low as 20+

 

On 11/5/2019 at 4:09 PM, AUsince72 said:

If I'd only seen ESPN SC highlights, I'd have them ranked where they are.

Unfortunately, I've actually seen the whole games and understand bad personnel usage, poor situational awareness and lack of consistent offensive production against good teams vs mediocre/bad teams.

Therefore, since the Defense is ranked 28th in the nation and the Offense is ranked 50th, let's give them credit for at least only losing to 2 highly ranked teams so.....

FOUR?!?!

Then you know why they have a high ranking, if most teams boggle as many offensive possessions as we do, they are getting blown out... simply destroyed. end of discussion.

Auburns defense is so damn amazing this year that they can and have been constantly put in terrible situations vs the toughest opponents, yet keep the games so close that all it takes is 1 decent offensive drive for AU to take the lead.

 

People aren't ranking Auburn high because they still believe Gus is an offensive mastermind, they rank Auburn high because they know with our defense, even if Gus screws up a ton with the O playcalling, we'll still be in it.

[AUsince72 11,084]

54 minutes ago, Mims44 said:

Then you know why they have a high ranking, if most teams boggle as many offensive possessions as we do, they are getting blown out... simply destroyed. end of discussion.

Auburns defense is so damn amazing this year that they can and have been constantly put in terrible situations vs the toughest opponents, yet keep the games so close that all it takes is 1 decent offensive drive for AU to take the lead.

 

People aren't ranking Auburn high because they still believe Gus is an offensive mastermind, they rank Auburn high because they know with our defense, even if Gus screws up a ton with the O playcalling, we'll still be in it.

Yessir, I agree that Auburn's Defense should be separated and put into the CFP by themselves. ..I'm almost serious. 

I do put value on their Oregon victory but beyond that every team they've beaten, so far, are "meh" at best and their 2 chances to earn an upper tier ranking (as a whole team) has been squandered by the Offense......badly.  So many talk that a team shouldn't be punished too harshly for a very early season loss.  Not sure why that same logic doesn't apply to a very early win too when half the team botches their 2 most meaningful games, so far?

Maybe if they beat thUga & bammer,  I'll change my mind and that might be worthy of a top 10, but, again how convincing they look will turn my perception dial one way or the other.

If the game was only played by half a team, then great.  It's a team game though, and as a team, they are nowhere near a top 10 team.

Those are my thoughts.  Nothing official and nothing that actually makes any difference, so Auburn's ranking is safe....for now.

[sevenlee36 1,654]

Defense top 3

Offense 85th

[thewhiz7 273]

All those with Penn St in the top 5 might need to replace with Minnesota. P.J. has it going on up there.