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Way-too-early bowl projection slots Auburn in the Gator Bowl

Justin Hokansonby: Justin Hokanson07/01/25_JHokanson
Demarcus Riddick
Demarcus Riddick (Photo: Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

It’s never too early for bowl projections in the middle of the summer, as we all await the start of the college football season.

New On3 Sports’ college football insider Brett McMurphy published his way-too-early bowl projections on Tuesday and Auburn found themselves in a not-so-bad position, all things considered.

McMurphy placed the Tigers in the Gator Bowl against Georgia Tech. That game is played on December 27 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Last season, Ole Miss finished 8th in the SEC (one of six teams tied at 5-3 in conference play) and was picked for the Gator Bowl. The Yellow Jackets are picked 35th in Athlon Sports’ preseason magazine and 41st in Lindy’s Sports preseason magazine.

All things considered, most supporters of Auburn football would take a 5-3 league record and appearance in one of the six primary bowl slots for the conference, outside of the playoff and the Citrus Bowl. The Tigers haven’t enjoyed a winning conference record during a 12-game schedule since going 5-3 in the 2019 season.

McMurphy predicts Georgia, Texas, Alabama and LSU to make the College Football Playoff from the SEC.

The Gator Bowl is part of six bowls that make up the SEC Bowl Pool, which also includes the Kinder’s Texas Bowl in Houston, the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa and the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl.  In alternating years, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl replaces the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl in the SEC Bowl Pool.

Following the selection of teams into the Bowl Pool, SEC teams are slotted in the Birmingham Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl and Armed Forces Bowl.

Auburn has only played in two bowl games over the last four seasons, both losses. The Tigers have lost four straight bowl games — Maryland, Houston, Northwestern and Minnesota — and haven’t won a bowl game since the 2018 Music City Bowl against Purdue.

Auburn has just two bowl wins in the last 10 seasons, with a win over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl following the 2015 season being the other outside of the most recent Music City Bowl win.

Prior to that, from 1996-2011, Auburn enjoyed tremendous bowl success. The Tigers won 10 bowl games during that period, including winning eight bowl games in nine appearances from 2003 until 2011.

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