Coming off their improbable run to the 2013 SEC Championship and being 13 seconds away from a national championship, the Auburn Tigers open the season ranked No. 6 in the AP Preseason Poll.

Auburn is ranked No. 5 in the USA Today Poll.

Auburn is nine votes from being in the AP Top 5. Ohio State is No. 5 with 1,207 votes. The Tigers received 1,198 votes.

This is the highest Auburn has been ranked in the AP poll since 2006 when the Tigers were ranked No. 4. That season Auburn finished 11-2, 6-2 in the SEC which was good enough for second place in the West. A 27-10 loss to Arkansas at home midway through the season decided the West. The Tigers also lost to Georgia 35-17. They concluded the year with an appearance in the Cotton Bowl and beat Nebraska 17-14.

The last time Auburn was ranked in the preseason poll was in 2011. Coming off their national championship win against Oregon, the Tigers began the season No. 23.  After a 4-1 start that bumped Auburn up to No. 15 in the country, the Tigers alternated wins and losses the next eight game. They finished 8-5, 4-4 for 4th place in the SEC West and defeated Virginia 43-24 in the Chick-fil-a Bowl. Auburn finished the season unranked but received 40 votes in the final poll which would have ranked them No. 27.

It is the highest preseason ranking Auburn has received following an SEC Championship pitted the East champion verse the West champion.

  • 2013 SEC Champions – 2014 AP Preseason Poll ranking: 6
  • 2010 SEC Champions – 2011 AP Preseason Poll ranking: 23
  • 2004 SEC Champions – 2005 AP Preseason Poll ranking: 16

This is the 35th time in school history that Auburn is ranked in AP Preseason Poll. Of those 35 years, the Tigers finished higher in the final AP poll 13 times.

  • 2010: 22, finished 1
  • 2007: 18, finished 15
  • 2005: 16, finished 14
  • 2004: 17, finished, 2
  • 1997: 16, finished 11
  • 1994: 11, finished 9
  • 1989: 8, finished 6
  • 1986: 14, finished 6
  • 1983: 5, finished 3
  • 1970: 20, finished 10
  • 1958: 5, finished 4
  • 1957: 15, finished 1
  • 1955: 17, finished 8

Like last year, the Tigers have historically been more successful when they have flown under the radar. There have been 13 years where Auburn has started the season unranked yet finished ranked in the final AP Poll. Five of those 13 years the Tigers finished in the Top 10, four years in the Top 5.

  • 2013: NR, finished 2
  • 2002: NR, finished 14
  • 1993: NR, finished 4
  • 1982: NR, finished 14
  • 1979: NR, finished 16
  • 1974: NR, finished 8
  • 1972: NR, finished 5
  • 1968: NR, finished 19
  • 1963: NR, finished 5
  • 1954: NR, finished 13
  • 1953: NR, finished 17

Auburn will face off against 7 opponents ranked in the top 25.

Here is the AP Top 25 (bold indicates SEC team; asterisk indicates an Auburn opponent)

No. 1 Florida State

No. 2 Alabama*

No. 3 Oregon

No. 4 Oklahoma

No. 5 Ohio State

No. 6 Auburn

No. 7 UCLA

No. 8 Michigan State

No. 9 South Carolina*

No. 10 Baylor

No. 11 Stanford

No. 12 Georgia*

No. 13 LSU*

No. 14 Wisconsin

No. 15 USC

No. 16 Clemson

No. 17 Notre Dame

No. 18 Ole Miss*

No. 19 Arizona State

No. 20 Kansas State*

No. 21 Texas A&M*

No. 22 Nebraska

No. 23 North Carolina

No. 24 Missouri

No. 25 Washington