Auburn may be headed for a bowl game even if they finish with five wins

Brett McMurphy projects Auburn to Play Baylor in the Liberty Bowl.

Typically you have to win six games to be bowl eligible. This is true, however, some years there are not enough six-win teams to fill the bowl games and some six-win teams get selected. Auburn is now projected to be one of those teams even if they don’t win the Iron Bowl.

The college football playoff teams are, hopefully, selected on merit and how much a team deserves to be there. However, bowl teams are not chosen on merit. The bowls themselves pick from teams available to them for any reason they desire. Usually, this selection is based on money. For example, Ole Miss may have more wins than Auburn in a given year, but a bowl game may select Auburn despite this. They would do so because the Auburn fanbase tends to travel more, spend more money, and is a more national brand that would get them better tv ratings. Again, bowl selection often comes down to the money. Each bowl is trying to put together a game with quality schools that will both attend and watch the game in numbers.

For this reason, Auburn may be the first five-win team selected for a bowl. Attendance has soared since Auburn changed their head coach to someone the fan base liked. Auburn fans usually have a great showing at bowl games, and this year wouldn’t be any different.

Could Auburn be playing Baylor in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis? That is Brett McMurphy’s projection as it stands today. Currently, there are 73 teams with 6 wins, but at least 82 bowl spots. Most of the five-win teams are not projected to win this week, and McMurphy has three 5-7 teams making a bowl. Of Course, if the Tigers take down a struggling Alabama team in Tuscaloosa they will be bowling. Either way, Auburn might get one more fun game with Cadillac, or could a new coach be at the helm by then?

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