Auburn intends to decline potential bowl invite, per report
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Typically, teams have to finish the season with 6 wins to receive a bowl invitation, but exceptions are made when there are not enough teams to fill every bowl game. This process is usually determined by the team’s APR (Academic Progress Rate) ranking, and no team in the SEC under .500 has a better APR rank than Auburn.
Kansas State, which finished the season 6-6 and thus automatically qualified for a bowl bid, declined their invitation after new HC Collin Klein took over for Chris Klieman, who retired at the end of the regular season. Why is this relevant? It opens the door further for Auburn to, hypothetically, play in a bowl game this season.
However, it’s all a moot point. On Saturday, On3 Sports’ Justin Hokanson reported that Auburn will not accept any potential bowl invites. As Hokanson points out below, it’s not hard to see why the Tigers have no interest in a bowl matchup given their current transitional state.
The Hugh Freeze era was a disaster in Auburn, to be frank. The Tigers won 6 games in Freeze’s first season, but never eclipsed the 6-win mark again. He was fired in November of this year after losing to Kentucky, 10-3.
Now, the Alex Golesh Era begins. The former Tennessee offensive coordinator is an impressive offensive mind and took South Florida to 9 wins this past season. As mentioned above, Golesh has his work cut out for him across the next few weeks as he builds his staff, works to retain talent on Auburn’s roster and strategizes Auburn’s attack in the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
