Auburn Football: No Newton, No Fairley, How Low Will They Go Next Year?

Larry Burton

Syndicated Writer

With the losses of Cam Newton, 22 seniors and junior defensive tackle Nick Fairley, it's practically a given that Auburn will plunge from contender to pretender next season. The only question is how low they will go.

Certainly, the departures of Newton and Fairley are substantial, but the loss of so much senior talent is almost a crippling blow to the Tigers.

Looking at the past, BCS finalists did dip the next year and no one has repeated.

Here's a look at the BCS winners and their recession the next year.

1998 - Tennessee - 1999 finish - 9-3 finished number nine

1999 - Florida State - 2000 finish - 11-2 finished number three

2000- Oklahoma - 2001 finish - 11-2 finished number six

2001 - Miami - 2002 finish - 12-1 and number two, the highest repeater ever

2002- Ohio State - 2003 finish - 11-2 and number four

2003 - LSU - 2004 finish - 9-3 and number 16

2004 - Vacated winner

2005 - Texas - 2006 finish - 10-3 and number 13

2006 - Florida - 2007 finish - 9-4 and number 13

2007 - LSU (won with two losses) - 2008 finish - 8-5 and unranked, the biggest dip ever

2008 - Florida - 2009 finish - 13-1 and number three

2009 - Alabama - 2010 finish - 10-3, final ranking uncertain at this time

Now the question is: how low will Auburn go?

Though the typical team goes down to a ranking just inside the top ten, Auburn's drop could  be worse.

Take the time to participate in the poll and let us know how low you'll think they'll go.