For years, the Auburn program has measured itself not by what it can achieve but by what Alabama Football fails to achieve. Mostly, the drivel should be ignored, but in the painfully long college football offseason, minds wander. Sometimes they wander to absurdity.
CBS Sports' Brad Crawford is not a sensationalist. And in offseason vacuums of real news, speculation is fair game. Crawford used a January CBS college football Top 25 to project best-case and worst-case results for each team.
In the too early CBS Top 25, nine SEC football teams were included: Texas (No. 2); Georgia (No. 3); Texas A&M (No. 6); Oklahoma (No. 10); LSU (No. 14); Alabama (No. 15); Missouri (No. 17); Ole Miss (No. 20); and South Carolina (No. 25). The Alabama football regular season includes four of those teams: South Carolina in game four, Georgia in game six, Texas A&M in game eight and LSU (in Baton Rouge) in game nine.
Crawford's 'best case' projections have Texas and Georgia at 12-0; Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss at 11-1; Texas A&M, Oklahoma, South Carolina at 10-2, and Missouri at 9-3.
Crawford's 'worst case' projections are what excite Auburn fans. Crawford projects the worst-case for Texas, Georgia, and LSU as 8-4. Along with Texas A&M and Ole Miss, Alabama is projected at 7-5. Missouri is projected at 5-7 and South Carolina is 4-8.
Auburn Thoughts on Alabama Football
Crawford's explanation for his Alabama worst case was "South Carolina has nearly clipped Alabama in consecutive seasons, and there are contests against Georgia, at Tennessee, Texas A&M, at LSU, and Auburn that are not automatic. Heck, you have to throw the road game at Vanderbilt in that category, too."
Andrew Hughes, writing for Fly War Eagle, responded with "There's only so many ways to say that this Crimson Tide team is cooked before even stepping foot on the field this season." Hughes was also a bit skeptical about the Tigers "being given a serious chance to upset the Crimson Tide on the road this November is a testament to how bad things look in Tuscaloosa this coming fall. ... It's understandable to think that CFP teams like Georgia or A&M could be trouble for Alabama. Ditto for road matchups on Rocky Top and in Death Valley. But the Iron Bowl? Within the friendly confines of BDS?"
The sad irony for the Auburn program is that 2026 would be considered a good season for the Tigers, despite another Iron Bowl loss, if Alabama finished 7-5.
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