The Auburn Tigers re-found the win column last week against New Mexico in entertaining fashion. Freshman quarterback [autotag]Hank Brown[/autotag] was fantastic in his first career start, leading his offense to 41 points against the Lobos. While the defense showed some issues, it ultimately bent but didn’t break in the Tigers 41-19 victory.
Auburn’s lopsided win behind a new quarterback not only created optimism for fans, but for experts as well, as the Tigers are near-touchdown favorites in the SEC opener against Arkansas this Saturday. Even Tuscaloosa News’s SEC writer Chase Goodbread, who has been hesitant to provide any kind of optimism towards Hugh Freeze’s program, shot the Tigers up to No. 13 in his week three SEC Power Poll.
Even with the jump into the top 13, Goodbread still manages to take a subliminal jab at Auburn’s head coach, saying Hugh Freeze is officially “out of moves” after switching up his offensive coordinator and quarterback in the same season. While that may be the case, there is no denying Freeze made the correct decision in starting Hank Brown last week against New Mexico. If Brown performs well in the next few weeks moving forward, we may see Auburn climb into the top 10 in the Power Poll for the first time this season.
Currently, the top five consists of Texas (1), Georgia (2), Tennessee (3), Ole Miss (4), and Alabama (5). As for the basement of the rankings, Auburn was able to leapfrog Vanderbilt (14) for the No. 13 spot in the rankings. As it stands, the Tigers sit directly behind Florida (12) and Kentucky (11) on Goodbread’s list.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch