Auburn football projected to land in bowl game vs former SEC team

The Tigers could match up against a former conference opponent in the 2023 postseason.

Lance Dawe | Jul 6, 2023

Auburn football projected to land in bowl game vs former SEC team /

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The Auburn Tigers should be back in a bowl game this upcoming season.

Bill Bender of Sporting News recently released his bowl projections for the 2023 college football season, placing Auburn in a bowl not named the Birmingham Bowl for once.

Instead, it's a Florida bowl against a former SEC team.

Bender has the Tigers taking on Georgia Tech in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, a former member of the Southeastern Conference that Auburn has only played twice since 1987.

Following the Tigers' 20-10 victory over the Yellow Jackets that season, the two teams took a 16-year hiatus until Tech beat Auburn 17-3 in Atlanta back in 2003. Auburn lost the Jordan-Hare stint of the home-and-home 23-14 later in 2005.

The Tigers lead the all-time series 47-41-4.

"First-year coach Hugh Freeze wants nothing more than to shock all by contending in the SEC West against several national heavyweights, but Auburn's roster just isn't there yet," Brad Crawford of 247Sports said about the projected matchup. "He made notable strides through portal acquisitions and seems to have this ship heading in the right direction, but it takes more than one season to go from the bottom tier to the top. If Brent Key gets to a bowl game with the Yellow Jackets in 2023, that's a job well done."

Auburn kicks off the 2023 season at home against UMass. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Here's a look at the entire 2023 schedule:

Sept. 2nd vs UMass

Sept. 9th at California

Sept. 16th vs Samford

Sept. 23rd at Texas A&M

Sept. 30th vs Georgia

Oct. 14th at LSU

Oct. 21st vs Ole Miss

Oct. 28th vs Mississippi State

Nov. 4th at Vanderbilt

Nov. 11th at Arkansas

Nov. 18th vs New Mexico State

Nov. 25th vs Alabama

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