Auburn Tigers Football: 9 Bold Predictions for 2011

Auburn has the ultimate goal of winning championships every year.

If you ask a player or coach what they expect to do this year, the answer is win championships. These players and coaches know that they are not getting much love in this preseason, but they have yet to let the lowered expectations reach the locker room.

Auburn is returning a modest six starters this season. The experience is severely lacking for the Tigers, but the talent is not. Auburn has one of the most talented rosters in memory in 2011. Finding ways to let that talent develop without giving up big busts defensively and big losses offensively will be a tough task for the Tigers coaching staff.

If Auburn can find a groove early, the Tigers will be quite formidable. So what will happen if everything does go right for the Tigers?

Looking ahead, here are nine bold predictions that could occur for the Tigers this season. 

Auburn Starts 4-0

Auburn opens the season at home with a game against Utah State. In no way is the game a pushover, as any team can win on any given day, but Auburn will go into this game expecting the win. The following weekend the season really heats up for the Tigers.

With Auburn playing host to Mississippi State in the second game of the season, it is easy to see that the Tigers aren’t able to ease new comers and young players into the action. Mississippi State returns a very skilled offense and strong defense. The Bulldogs are looking to be contenders in the West this season so a win at Auburn is a must.

Auburn will follow up the battle with the Bulldogs with a trip to Clemson. Clemson will be replacing their starting quarterback, but they return a ton on the offensive side of the ball.

Traveling to Clemson will be no pushover and the Tigers from Clemson will be looking for some payback as Auburn has squeaked out wins in the past two contests. This will be a major road challenge early for Auburn.

The fourth game this season is back at home against Florida Atlantic, again an expected win. The first four games include two very difficult games early. The Tigers will be tested often, but if they can make it through the first four games with wins, it would put the Tigers in a much better position as they head into the gauntlet they face in October.

Iron Bowl Determines SEC West Champion

The Iron Bowl has been played on the largest stage the last two seasons. Alabama won the title following a close win in 2009, and the Tigers won the title after arguably the best game in the series' history a year ago. This year will look to be no different than the last two.

Most are predicting Alabama to be a major player in the national title scene this coming season, so it would be easy to expect the game to have a play in the SEC West, but both teams could find a way to make this game determine who travels to Atlanta.

For Auburn, they have three of their five inter-division games at home. Winning against LSU would put Auburn in the cockpit next to Alabama for the SEC West. No matter if Auburn has a chance at the West or not, this game will be special, but looking at the schedule, it is not unfathomable to expect this game to determine the West’s winner.

Michael Dyer becomes a Heisman Finalist

While Cam Newton was stealing the highlight reels last year, Michael Dyer was silently marching towards a 1,000-yard season. As a freshman, Dyer finished with 1,093 yards and five touchdowns. The major change this year will obviously be no Cam Newton.

The big question will be if Dyer can handle the role of the feature back. There won’t be another playmaker that will divert attention from Dyer on most runs, so he will need to step up his game this season.

Another major factor in Dyer’s performance will be how the offensive line melds together this season. They need to perform well early for Auburn to have the type of rushing success that they hope for in 2011.

With Dyer having a year in the program, this season is likely to be a good one. If he can increase his output by 500-600 yards, his Heisman candidacy should take off by the end of the year.

Clint Moseley Throws for 3,500

The first bold prediction in this scenario is that Moseley is the starter at quarterback. At this point there is no clear cut leader, but Moseley remains my pick for the starting role this fall.

The Tigers have a wealth of talent on the receiving corps that is poised to breakout and perform big this year for Auburn. If Moseley can settle early and find key targets like Emory Blake and Philip Lutzenkirchen, he will have a great shot at having a huge season.

Chris Todd went from being a Community College scrub to being a record setting quarterback under Malzahn. Todd threw for 2,612 yards his final season with the Tigers. Moseley is 1,000 yards better than Todd, and he has a chance to prove it this year.

Auburn Wins in Baton Rouge

Auburn travels to Baton Rouge in late October to battle the LSU Tigers. LSU is an early favorite to battle Alabama in the West this season. The battles between the two Tigers have been very good games lately, so there is no reason to assume disappointment this year.

Auburn will be ending a long stretch of road games and will have hosted Florida the week prior to this contest. LSU will be coming off of a road trip to Tennessee. Both teams will have played talented opponents prior to this game.

Auburn will be traveling to one of the most hostile environments in the country and will undoubtedly be considered the underdog. If Auburn can find momentum early and keep pressure on the LSU quarterbacks, then the Tigers will have a great shot at winning this game.

A win in Baton Rouge will put Auburn firmly in the SEC West race.

Auburn Produces a Shutdown Defense

Auburn has a lot of youth scattered throughout the defense side of the ball this year. Despite being young, numerous players received valuable playing time last season. Most of the experience is delegated to the secondary and linebackers for Auburn, but the front four will have seen some action as well.

If Auburn can get the interior line to play above expectations, the rest of the defense should be very talented and dangerous. To put it into perspective, Auburn has enough depth at corner to move Neiko Thorpe to safety from corner, a position he has played for three seasons. Thorpe is a natural for the safety position, and this season he will finally be able to play there.

The linebacker position should be well developed with Daren Bates, Eltoro Freeman, Jonathan Evans, and Jake Holland. Bates, Freeman, and Evans are all upper classmen, so experience is not lacking while Holland saw his fair share of time in the middle last year.

Look for Coach Roof to mix up the blitz packages and use his talent to its strengths to help assist the questions in the middle of the defensive line. If Roof can figure out a way to shore up the middle, the Tigers will be one of the better defenses in the conference and country.

Auburn Offense Finishes in the Top Five Nationally

This may be the least bold of the bold predictions. Gus Malzahn has proven that he can turn offenses around in the blink of an eye in his tenure in college football. Turning the 2009 Auburn offense into a game winning offense was amazing to watch. Anything less than a top 10 offense would be surprising.

There is a wealth of talent that returns for the Tigers, and this will be the third year that Auburn has been in the same offensive system. These players will be able to win ball games and put up yards not only with their talent, but with the favorable position that the Auburn scheme will put them in.

Look for Auburn to be as dangerous as ever on the offensive side of the ball, despite the major loss of game-changer Cam Newton. Instead of focusing on one player, defenses will be peppered constantly from different directions and different skill players.

Trovon Reed Will Be an All-American

Reed received some of the most preseason hype last season in recent memory from the Auburn camp. Even the Tigers' coaches were quoted as saying how special of a player that Reed could be. A knee injury hampered his impact and forced a redshirt last year.

This season he is expected to be fully returned from the knee injury, and again he is making waves with his talent and quickness. Reed will likely be a staple in this season’s offense and may make an even bigger impact than most will expect.

Reed will earn statistics in the return game as a receiver and ball carrier. Combine his multifaceted abilities with the space that the Auburn offense will surely open for him, and this bold prediction doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

The Tigers are looking for playmakers, and Reed will be one this year.

Auburn Finishes with 10 Wins

Last year’s undefeated season had as much to do with the schedule setup as it did the talent on the field. Auburn had a great schedule last season that led to home field advantage in eight games. This season, the schedule is far less favorable with a rigorous October.

If Auburn can maneuver the seemingly impossible month of October this coming fall and earn some unexpected wins, Auburn can come out of this season with nine wins. With a bowl win, Auburn finishes the season with a 10 spot in the W column.

Finishing with 10 wins or better will be an amazing feat for the Tigers this season, as so much experience was lost after 2010. Not a lot of overall talent was lost, however, so for the Tigers it would be the hope that the young talent could mature quickly and help build a formidable Auburn football team.