Auburn Tigers Tickets

2007 Auburn Tigers Season Preview It's always tough competition in the SEC, and Auburn found out the hard way in 2006.

The Tigers were considered a threat to win the national championship but ended up getting stunned by Arkansas to end any hope of playing for a title. They also ended up being beat out by the Razorbacks in their division, meaning they didn't get to play for the SEC title either.

Auburn finished their season with a 17-14 win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, hardly anything to write home about after the team won a share of the national championship just two seasons ago. Still, it was a positive note to end

Tommy Tuberville's job seemed like it was on the line just a few seasons ago, but the Auburn faithful seemed to realize they had a great coach on their hands and it would be a big mistake to let him go.

The expectations are obviously very high for Auburn, which is why an 11-2 season can be considered a disappointment. College football is king in the Southeast, so anything less than a BCS appearance is really not good enough for the top schools.

Quarterback Brandon Cox returns for 2007 and should be more effective if he can stay healthy. One of the bigger losses is running back Kenny Irons, who could really gain some tough yards despite being a bit undersized. Auburn seems to churn out good running backs year after year so that position shouldn't be too big of a problem to fill with another talented player.

In 2007, Auburn is expected to be a top 10 team that could challenge for a national championship yet again. It certainly helps that the defending national champion Florida Gators lost a number of key people and shouldn't be anywhere near as good in the upcoming season.

The bad news is that the four toughest teams Auburn will play (Arkansas, Florida, LSU and Georgia) will all be road games. That's never a good sign when all of the teams are also from the SEC.

It's hard to nearly impossible for SEC teams to win national championships because they often don't get a chance to play in the game. The conference is stacked with great teams year after year and it's extremely difficult to make it through the regular season without a loss. Because of the way college football is set up, very few one loss teams end up playing in the national championship game.