Auburn has a legitimate chance to beat a top-10 ranked SEC opponent this week. Bryan Harsin is why.

Hiring Harsin to replace Gus Malzahn was considered a decent hire when it was announced. However, no one was rolling Toomer’s Corner after his introductory press conference. The average football fan probably didn’t know who Harsin was when he was hired. Things have changed.

Harsin isn’t exactly a household name, but his ability to make Auburn an SEC West contender in his first year is incredible. As crazy as it sounds, Auburn could be in the lead of the SEC West if they beat Ole Miss on Saturday and Alabama stumbles once again like it did at Texas A&M.

Is that likely? No. Is it possible? Certainly. After an off week, Alabama will host LSU. With all of the turmoil that has gone on in Baton Rouge, LSU’s players could rise up and play one last great game for the soon-to-be-departed Ed Orgeron. However, Auburn doesn’t have to get that lucky and hope for an LSU upset. The Tigers still control their fate. Yes, you read that correctly. And, yes, you read that in late October.

Auburn could win out, play for the SEC Championship and win a national title if they could sneak into the College Football Playoff. Of course, that’s not very likely considering no 2-loss team has made the Playoff and the Tigers still have to play 5 more regular-season SEC games to play. The Tigers could still come crashing back to earth. However, they’re only a 2.5-point underdog against the Rebels, so someone believes in them.

The toughest games left on Auburn’s schedule are against Ole Miss and Alabama. Both are on The Plains. Auburn probably isn’t going to win out, play for any sort of championship or even beat Alabama, but that’s not the point. Harsin has his team in a position to compete for everything — not just a Liberty Bowl invitation. Harsin doesn’t have to sell recruits on early playing time like so many other first-year coaches. That will certainly be mentioned, but a chance to win a championship is better than a chance to help rebuild a program. Auburn’s program seems pretty built up already and only looks to get better under Harsin.

If you’re still uncertain about Harsin, take a look at some other first-year head coaches that you might recognize.

Harsin is 5-2 in his first season at Auburn. Tennessee’s Josh Heupel looks like a solid hire and has garnered extensive media coverage with his explosive offense. Still, the Vols are just 4-4. Harsin has been better. He’s just done so with less fanfare.

A further look around the conference and at some familiar names just drives home the fact that Harsin is having more success in his first year than any other FBS coaches in the nation. Shane Beamer is 4-4 at South Carolina. Former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema is 3-5 at Illinois. Former Tennessee coach Butch Jones is, well, still Butch Jones. He’s 1-6 at Arkansas State.

One could certainly make the argument that Harsin stepped into a better job than those coaches. All of those vacancies were reminiscent of a raging dumpster fire in the middle of a tornado. However, saying that good fortune is the reason for Harsin’s success is a bit too simplistic. Just look at Texas.

Texas is a great job. Sure, it has its challenges, but it is still one of the better programs in the nation. Texas always has above-average talent, has the funds to send William Shatner to Mars and plays in a watered-down conference. No matter. First-year head coach Steve Sarkisian is 4-3 at Texas, which just fired a coach who lost 3 games last year.

Auburn fans and learned SEC fans shouldn’t be surprised by the notion that Harsin was the best hire during the offseason — at least so far. Like the other teams in the top half of the SEC, Auburn had some talent that Harsin inherited. However, they didn’t have a stable quarterback situation and were overshadowed by the most dominant program in the history of college football, which they still are. Harsin was willing to take on the Herculean task of toppling Alabama. We’ll see if he’s up for the challenge.

The Ole Miss game is huge for Harsin and Auburn. By the end of that game, the Tigers could become the talk of the nation and not just the region. Sure, there are still questions about Harsin, particularly if he can recruit at a high level against elite coaches who are heading up elite programs. Alabama again comes to mind. So does Georgia.

Auburn and Harsin might lose on Saturday to the Rebels, who showcase a high-flying offense led by Lane Kiffin and Heisman candidate Matt Corral. Auburn might lose to Ole Miss and eventually Alabama. There would be no shame in that for a first-year head coach. The thing that is shameful is that schools with bigger budgets didn’t make a stronger run at Harsin. Yes, I’m talking about Texas.