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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-08-10 19:59:48.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
College football’s most chaotic team comes in at #15 overall and #5 in the SEC. Higher than I was expecting if I’m being honest. Known in the modern time as being a team that could go 0-12 one year then 12-0 the next, Auburn’s had a really good past 40 years that covers 7 SEC titles, 2 Heisman winners, and a National Championship. Bo Jackson and Cam Newton are two of the most culturally relevant Heisman winners to this day, and the 2010 team is the prime example of an all-time carry job by a player with Cam leading Auburn to glory. As we’ll see below, Auburn’s top 5 seasons all came under a different coach (Gene Chizik, Tommy Tuberville, Pat Dye, Gus Malzahn, Terry Bowden), showing there’s a controlled chaos in Auburn, they’re not a one-hit wonder under one coach and can sustain their success.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2010: 1. Auburn: 14-0 (57.422) 2. 2004: 2. Auburn: 13-0 (54.399) 3. 1983: 1. Auburn: 11-1 (48.246) 4. 2013: 3. Auburn: 12-2 (42.908) 5. 1993: 5. Auburn: 11-0 (40.137) 6. 1987: 7. Auburn: 9-1-2 (34.857) 7. 2006: 10. Auburn: 11-2 (34.768) 8. 1988: 10. Auburn: 10-2 (34.138) 9. 1989: 11. Auburn: 10-2 (32.918) 10. 2017: 10. Auburn: 10-4 (31.913) 11. 1997: 10. Auburn: 10-3 (30.329) 12. 1986: 9. Auburn: 10-2 (28.980) 13. 1994: 9. Auburn: 9-1-1 (28.630) 14. 2005: 10. Auburn: 9-3 (25.394) 15. 1985: 21. Auburn: 8-4 (23.100) 16. 2019: 21. Auburn: 9-4 (23.087) 17. 2002: 18. Auburn: 9-4 (20.692) 18. 1990: 18. Auburn: 8-3-1 (20.314) 19. 2007: 23. Auburn: 9-4 (19.268) 20. 1984: 17. Auburn: 9-4 (17.842) 21. 2014: 22. Auburn: 8-5 (16.611) 22. 1995: 26. Auburn: 8-4 (14.884) 23. 2000: 23. Auburn: 9-4 (13.721) 24. 1996: 25. Auburn: 8-4 (12.846) 25. 2016: 31. Auburn: 8-5 (12.521) 26. 2003: 30. Auburn: 8-5 (11.635) 27. 2018: 34. Auburn: 8-5 (10.837) 28. 2009: 36. Auburn: 8-5 (10.505) 29. 2011: 35. Auburn: 8-5 (7.455) 30. 2001: 38. Auburn: 7-5 (4.286) 31. 2015: 49. Auburn: 7-6 (3.303) 32. 2020: 46. Auburn: 6-5 (1.501) 33. 2021: 52. Auburn: 6-7 (-0.829) 34. 1992: 48. Auburn: 5-5-1 (-6.293) 35. 1999: 51. Auburn: 5-6 (-6.818) 36. 1991: 51. Auburn: 5-6 (-10.223) 37. 2022: 78. Auburn: 5-7 (-12.495) 38. 2008: 73. Auburn: 5-7 (-16.352) 39. 1998: 71. Auburn: 3-8 (-19.796) 40. 2012: 94. Auburn: 3-9 (-31.640) Overall Score: 39047 (15th)
- 331-159-5 record
- 1 national title
- 7 conference titles
- 17-13-1 bowl record
- 21 consensus All-Americans
- 161 NFL players drafted
Despite putting up 11 seasons with double-digit wins, Auburn only has back-to-back double-digit win seasons once. Pretty fitting for college football’s most chaotic team. Also, I do have Auburn winning the 1983 title over Miami (FL). Both teams finished the year 11-1, with Miami at #1 and Auburn at #3, but the Tigers had an INCREDIBLE finish to the season, beating #5 Florida, #7 Maryland, #4 Georgia, #19 Alabama, and #8 Michigan in their last 5 games, and only played 2 teams with a losing record. So, 2 national titles for Auburn in my book. Consensus All-Americans since 2000 are K Damon Duval (2001), CB Carlos Rogers (2004) who won the Thorpe Award, OL Marcus McNeill (2005), OT Lee Ziemba (2010), QB Cam Newton (2010) who won the Heisman, DT Nick Fairley (2010) who was 3rd in the NCAA in total TFL with 24, C Reese Dismukes (2014) who won the Rimington Award, and DT Derrick Brown (2019) who was SEC Defensive POTY and a top 10 pick. A notable consensus AA I can’t skip over is RB Bo Jackson (1983, 1985). Did you know he was good at baseball too? Obligatory “Bo Knows” comment. Top NFL players include QB Cam Newton, LB Kevin Greene, OT Willie Anderson, LB Takeo Spikes, LB Karlos Dansby, RB Bo Jackson, RB Stephen Davis, OG Ben Grubbs, FB Tony Richardson, K Daniel Carlson, CB Carlos Rogers, QB Jason Campbell, RB Ronnie Brown, K Rob Bironas, DE Dee Ford, and K Cody Parkey.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2012 (3-9 overall, 0-8 SEC)
Gene Chizik moment. When Auburn hired a 5-19 coach from Iowa State in 2009, they shouldn’t have expected anything different. What’s that? They won a national title in 2010? Well that makes this season even weirder. Life after Cam Newton was starting to expose holes in Chizik’s coaching. Specifically QB development was very poor as former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn left in the offseason. Kiehl Frazier, Jonathan Wallace, and Clint Moseley combined for 7 TD and 15 INT just 2 years after Newton threw 30 TD and 7 INT. The defense kept them in games early, with losses of 19-26 to #14 Clemson and 10-12 to #2 LSU, but a narrow 31-28 OT win over UL Monroe showed that this was really not a good Auburn team, and by season’s end, they were losing 21-63 to #20 Texas A&M, 0-38 to #6 Georgia, and 0-49 to #2 Alabama. RB Tre Mason was one of the few bright spots, rushing for 1000 yards and 8 TD on 5.9 YPC, and would be a key contributor in the 2013 national title run. Chizik was fired after the season, posting a 33-19 record in 4 years.
5. 1993 (11-0 overall, 8-0 SEC)
Why are you, as an unbeaten team, ranked #4 in the final poll? Kind of cringe. All jokes aside, it was a multitude of factors. Auburn went into the season on probation, specifically a TV ban (which meant nobody saw them play) and reduced scholarships. They also played a surprisingly easy schedule for an SEC school, with just the 68th ranked strength of schedule out of 106 teams. They weren’t eligible for the SEC title game or postseason either. Finally, they started the year unranked, so they had to overcome the poll inertia that comes with teams ranked above you staying ahead as they keep winning. Auburn went as far as they could though, going 11-0 with wins of 38-35 over #4 Florida and 22-14 over #11 Alabama. They finished just #4 in the AP Poll behind 12-1 Florida State, 11-1 Notre Dame, and 11-1 Nebraska, but they finished even further down in my rankings at #5 because they weren’t blowing out their soft schedule. Auburn’s athletics website claims the 1993 title, but that is unofficial and the Auburn program itself doesn’t recognize 1993 as a title-winning season. OT Wayne Gandy and P Terry Daniel were consensus All-Americans, with Daniel hitting 46.9 yards per punt. Terry Bowden won multiple National Coach of the Year awards, pretty amazing considering it was his first season as a head coach in Division 1-A.
1993 Auburn is my 173rd best team since 1983.
4. 2013 (12-2 overall, 7-1 SEC)
Why can’t you be normal!?
Early 2010’s Auburn: SCREAMS
Coming off their worst season maybe of all time, Auburn had just an over/under win total of 6.5, with the over being +140. Realistic expectations for first year head coach Gus Malzahn were just to make a bowl. They had a nice start, beating 3 bowl teams in Washington State, Arkansas State, and Mississippi State, before losing to #6 LSU. There were signs of Auburn actually being a solid team with a 30-22 win over #24 Ole Miss, then those suspicions were confirmed with a 45-41 upset over #7 Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel a few weeks later. Auburn was now 6-1 and #11, putting together a nice year, but nobody really saw them as a national title threat, especially after last season. They did keep winning, getting to a November 16 game against #25 Georgia at 10-0. Down 37-38 with just 36 seconds left, facing 4th and 22 from their own 27, it appeared Auburn’s dream season was coming to a close. QB Nick Marshall heaved a ball into triple coverage, where 2 defenders went up for the easy pick…crashed into each other, the ball fluttered into the air, WR Ricardo Louis frantically searching for it, relying on peripheral vision, and the ball landed in his left hand, bobbling it before finally securing it for a 73 yard game winning TD, Auburn wins 43-38. I wish I had more time to go into detail, but I’ll never forget #4 Auburn vs #1 Alabama the following week. To this day, I consider it the greatest college game I’ve ever watched. It surpassed the seemingly insurmountable hype, with back and forth action culminating in the “Kick Six” as Chris Davis returned a missed FG 109 yards for a walk-off 34-28 win. They needed no magic in the SEC Championship game, beating #5 Missouri 59-42 thanks to 304 rushing yards from RB Tre Mason. They nearly completed the dream season in the title game, taking a 21-3 lead on #1 Florida State before losing 31-34 on a last second TD.
Auburn finished the year a few seconds short of their 2nd national title in 4 years. They had a STACKED rushing offense led by QB Nick Marshall and RB Tre Mason. Marshall threw for 1976 yards 14 TD 6 INT with 1068 rushing yards and 12 TD. Mason was one of the best players in the country, rushing for 1816 yards and 23 TD to win SEC Offensive POTY. Even the backups were some of the best in the country, with Cameron Artis-Payne going for 610 yards on 6.7 YPC, and the sub-4.3 40 speed Corey Grant going for 647 on 9.8(!) YPC. Future NFL WR Sammie Coates had 902 receiving yards on 21.5 yards per catch. DE Dee Ford did a good job staying onside and racked up 10.5 sacks, earning 1st Team All-SEC. Chris Davis, the hero of the Iron Bowl, was a 1st Team All-American returner. Similar to Terry Bowden in 1993, Gus Malzahn won a bunch of National Coach of the Year awards in his first year with Auburn.
2013 Auburn is my 131st best team since 1983.
3. 1983 (11-1 overall, 6-0 SEC)
Bo Knows this…
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