Auburn football's bowl predictions ahead of Week 12
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Following Auburn football's loss to No. 14 Vanderbilt in Week 11, its dreams of going to a bowl game are quickly fading.
The Tigers are in the middle of their second bye week of the season, and will return to action in Week 13 with two games remaining on their schedule. Auburn will face Mercer on Saturday, Nov. 22, and will end the regular season on Nov. 30 with No. 4 Alabama. Both games will be played inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn, which sits at 4-6 entering Week 12, needs just two wins to earn bowl eligibility. However, their road to completing the task is quite challenging. ESPN gives Auburn a 95.8% chance to defeat Mercer and a 24% chance to beat Alabama. If those projections become true, Auburn will finish the regular season with a 5-7 record, which is not enough to qualify for a bowl and will give Auburn a seven-loss season for the fifth-straight season.
Does the national media project Auburn to defy the odds and earn a bowl bid? Here is a look at Auburn's bowl predictions ahead of Week 12's action.
USA TODAY Sports
For the first time this season, Auburn has missed being a part of Erick Smith's bowl projections at USA TODAY. Smith projects UCF and Cal to take fill slots at the Duke's Mayo Bowl and the Texas Bowl originally reserved for SEC teams, as it appears teams such as Auburn, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Florida are destined to miss a bowl bid this season.
ESPN
ESPN experts Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach join Erick Smith at USA TODAY Sports by erasing Auburn from its bowl projections. Last week, Bonagura was the only expert to give Auburn a bowl nod by pitting them against Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Jan. 2. However, with Auburn's loss to Vanderbilt in Week 11, Bonagura has officially wiped Auburn out of consideration.
Athlon Sports
Auburn misses out on a bowl forecast from Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports this week. Auburn joins several notable names, including Clemson, South Carolina, Penn State, and West Virginia, by being excluded from this week's projections.
On3
The trend continues as Brett McMurphy of On3 has also taken Auburn out of bowl consideration. According to this week's projections, McMurphy forecasts four SEC teams to make the College Football Playoff. McMurphy expects Texas A&M to grab the highest CFP seed from the SEC at No. 2, with Alabama following at No. 4, Georgia at No. 6, and Ole Miss at No. 7.
Pro Football Network
Oliver Hodgkinson of Pro Football Network has also excluded Auburn from this week's bowl forecast. In this week's predictions, Hodgkinson projects seven SEC teams to earn a bowl bid, with four more earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
College Football News
College Football News does not project Auburn to earn a bowl bid. Auburn's misfortune, as well as a projected losing record for both Florida and Kentucky, may leave the SEC with an open bowl slot.
College Football News writes: "Assuming the conference will get four teams into the CFP, the pickings get slim in a hurry, thanks to the Florida loss to Kentucky. Do you think the 4-5 Wildcats, after beating Tennessee Tech, will win one of the road games at Vanderbilt and Louisville? For now, we don't, either. That means …The SEC will have an open bowl affiliation.There's an easy fix for that, but that's assuming Florida and Kentucky won't get to six wins."
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn football bowl predictions for Week 12
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