Clemson is coming off a 5-point loss to Alabama in last season’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game. And Dabo Swinney’s team is about a touchdown favorite to go into Jordan-Hare and beat Auburn in the season opener for both teams on Sept. 3.

Between bringing in its third defensive coordinator over the last three seasons, players such as Roc Thomas transferring and other issues such as presumed first-string running back Jovon Robinson getting dismissed from the program, AU has gone through a pretty tumultuous offseason. So considering what the Tigers have endured over the last few months, a matchup against last year’s national runner-up doesn’t help things.

But does Auburn have what it takes to upset one of the best teams in the country? Let’s take a look at five factors that might give Gus Malzahn’s squad a fighting chance.

Home field advantage

Even though Clemson enters this year’s game having won the last two matchups, Auburn holds a commanding 34-13-2 lead in the all-time series. AU has been even more impressive in games against Clemson on The Plains, going 20-4 in those matchups.

Yes, Auburn’s lone home victories last season were against Jacksonville State, San Jose State and Idaho. And yes, Clemson had been 14-0 before losing to Alabama.

But historically, Jordan-Hare has been a tough place to visit — even for non-conference foes that are as good as Clemson. The defending ACC champs’ contest at Auburn is its second-toughest road game in 2016; Clemson visits Florida State on Oct. 29.

Clemson deserves to be favored by 7 points (some services have it favored by double digits), but Auburn probably should be getting more. Some think it will be a one-score game. Don’t be surprised if AU keeps it close.

Clemson might not be as good as advertised

Even though Clemson is behind only No. 1 Alabama in the preseason Coaches Poll, it returns just four starters on defense, but three of them are seniors. Auburn’s biggest challenge next month will be containing an offense led by QB and 2015 Heisman Trophy finalist Deshaun Watson as well as running back Wayne Gallman, who was second in the ACC last season with 1,527 rushing yards.

Clemson also returns three-fifths of its offensive line along with two starting wideouts and its first-string tight end. A year ago, it finished second in the ACC and 16th in the FBS in scoring at 38.5 points per game, a number it might be able to improve upon.

So the key to the game might be how well Auburn handles Clemson’s offense. But what does AU’s defense looks like?

Auburn’s defense should be better

New defensive coordinator Kevin Steele did OK in his lone season in the same position with LSU last year, as the Bayou Bengals finished fifth in the SEC in total defense, allowing 347.2 yards per game. Meanwhile, under DC Will Muschamp in 2015, Auburn surrendered 405.2 yards a contest, 13th in the conference and ahead of only South Carolina.

Counting on Steele to turn Auburn’s defense into a top-five unit this year is an unfair expectation, but improvement shouldn’t be a reach. Led by Carl Lawson, Dontavius Russell and Montravius Adams, AU’s defensive line should be quite a handful for Clemson and the rest of Auburn’s opponents.

The secondary, led by Rudy Ford, Tray Matthews and Carlton Davis, also looks pretty strong. However, the same can’t be said of Auburn’s linebacking corps, which returns no starters.

It remains to be seen how well the Steele-Auburn pairing will work, and a year without injuries for Lawson would be nice. But everyone connected to the team knows that Auburn has to get better, and it must start with the defense.

How does Clemson game plan for Auburn?

Calling Auburn a mystery going into the season would be an understatement. Earlier this month, Clemson was preparing to face Robinson; Auburn now needs a starting running back.

Speaking of starting offensive players, Auburn is in its second week of fall camp, and Malzahn still hasn’t chosen his first-string quarterback. The top three candidates are returnees Jeremy Johnson and Sean White along with newcomer John Franklin III, and Clemson has to game plan for all three until Malzahn makes his decision.

Malzahn made what some might call a bold move by telling Robinson to take a hike. Will he be even bolder by turning to Franklin, a junior college transfer, to run his offense?

At least in terms of trying to cross up Clemson, going with Franklin might be the shrewdest route to take. What adds to the mystery here is that all that Clemson has on Franklin are game films against JUCO competition. Nobody, including Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables, knows what Franklin might be able to do against FBS teams.

How does Clemson game plan for Malzahn?

Auburn’s fourth-year head coach used Kevin Phillips twice on trick plays last season – against Idaho for a 24-yard run and in Auburn’s victory over Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl, when the punter threw a 37-yard pass to Kerryon Johnson. He also called a trick play in the Tigers’ win over Texas A&M, when he had Ryan Davis crouch down behind the offensive line before he scampered for a 28-yard gain.

So Malzahn has established sort of a gunslinger-type mentality, at least when it comes to these types of plays. Clemson, no doubt, is aware of it, but Malzahn might need to resort to even more gumption and guile against Venables & Co. to improve AU’s chances of winning.

Malzahn probably doesn’t have the players to pull off more trickeration than he usually does. But by developing a reputation for doing something out of the ordinary, he’s put Clemson and other opponents on notice that he’s willing to take chances.

Potentially having the upper hand in football’s mental battles can go a long way toward leveling the playing field between two teams. That might not be enough of an edge when Auburn takes on Clemson in a little more than three weeks, but it certainly won’t hurt.