4 Bold Predictions for the 2024 Auburn Tigers

Records fall and so does the Crimson Tide in these four-bold predictions for the 2024 Auburn Tigers.

Auburn Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter continues to march up the all-time rushers list. / Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Inside the walls of the Auburn football locker room, predictions mean little. Players and coaches read more than they let on, and use whatever disrespect they may feel towards the program. However, after years of wandering through the college football version of the doldrums, the Auburn Tigers could actually greatly improve. 

Now the fanbase, hardened by losses and heartbreak, takes a wait-and-see attitude. Yet the stars could align for a renaissance on The Plains. Granted, every fanbase feels positive in late-August, only to have their hearts broken by the middle of October. What seemingly outlandish predictions await the Tigers and their 2024 football hopes?

Iron Bowl Victory

Starting off with the last game first, Auburn erases the putrid taste of the 2023 Iron Bowl with a resounding victory versus Alabama. No Kick-Six needed this time as the Tigers send a resounding shockwave through the SEC. 

Why? First, Nick Saban will watch the game from a suite. His aura firmly observes with a hamburger and cold adult beverage of choice as he watches the team that he coached for seventeen seasons fall to their hated rival. With the cloud of mystique dissipated, the contest shifts back between the lines. Correspondingly, the years of "next man up" finally bites the Crimson Tide. 

Recruits head to Tuscaloosa to play for Saban and head to the NFL. Now, Alabama faces a team that recruited on a similar level and possesses the confidence on both sides of the ball, enough to fight them tooth and nail. Plus, Hugh Freeze learned his lesson when not to coach too conservatively in big moments. In more blunt speech, the Tigers handle the Elephants.

Seven Games Minimum

After perusing both the schedule and the roster, Auburn will finish with at least seven victories. Now, that sets up the next question: how many games will the Auburn Tigers win? In all honesty, the Tigers will defeat Alabama for their eighth victory of the season. For the first time since 2019, the team will win eight games.

As a result, they will actually travel to a bowl game farther away than Nashville. With no disrespect intended to locally-based bowl games, the Tigers aim higher and achieve a goal, their long-term plan means recruiting and what better tool than flaunting multiple bowl trips outside of a five-hour radius.

Records Fall

In 2021 while a member of the Michigan State Spartans, Payton Thorne passed for 3,232 yards and 27 touchdowns. Dameyune Craig threw for 3,277 yards in 1997 to own the Auburn single-season record. Not only will Thorne surpass that, he will pass Patrick Nix on the all-time passing yardage list for eighth. 

Meanwhile, Jarquez Hunter carves his name among the best running backs to play at Auburn. In 2024, Hunter will rush for 1,100 yards and twelve touchdowns. Those yards eclipse Ben Tate for fifth all-time.

They're called bold predictions for a reason. Knocking off Alabama in Tuscaloosa might be the boldest of them all, but the 2024 Auburn Tigers team has higher expectations than recent years and should be aiming higher.