Where Auburn sits in the latest ESPN FPI rankings after Week 1 win
Auburn football played in one of Week 1's most thrilling games. How did its win over Baylor affect their ESPN FPI standing?
The Auburn Tigers are 1-0 after holding on to defeat the Baylor Bears 17-16 in the Aflac Kickoff Game on Saturday.
Auburn needed a great defensive play by safety Eric Winters to secure the win in the final moments. Now, they will look to improve this week when they play the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a Week 2 showdown inside Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, which will be the first home game of the Alex Golesh era. Both teams will be 1-0 entering the contest following Auburn's win over Baylor and Southern Miss' victory over Alcorn State .
Has the Tigers' stock risen following its 1-0 start? Here is a look at where Auburn stands in this week's ESPN Football Power Index ranking.
Before the start of the season, the Tigers were ranked at No. 22 in the ESPN FPI rankings . Despite the victory on Saturday, Auburn has dropped five spots to No. 27. They ranked 11th among SEC schools ahead of Missouri, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Just above the Tigers are the Tennessee Volunteers , who dropped two spots in the rankings. Taking the Tigers' place at No. 22 now is the Nebraska Cornhuskers , who jumped up eight spots after their 49-21 win over Ohio.
The Tigers have also dropped in the ESPN FPI when it comes to winning at least six games. Before the season, Auburn had a 71% chance to win at least six games according to the rankings. The projected record now for the Tigers is 6.4 wins and 5.6 losses. Also, prior to the season, the Tigers were projected to get a game three victory over Florida. After week one, Auburn now has a 42.1% chance of victory in week three. Auburn is now favored for a projected 6-6 season.
According to the ESPN FPI projections, Auburn has a favorable 87.7% chance at victory over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Saturday. That will be the home opener for the Tigers, and they will be looking to have an impressive performance before the first SEC game of the season the following week against the Florida Gators . Southern Miss ranks No. 77 in the rankings and jumped up ten spots after defeating Alcorn State 49-3 to start 1-0. In the Sun Belt Conference, the Golden Eagles are the second-highest-ranked team behind James Madison, who are at No. 76.
Photos: Auburn football defeats Southern Miss in 2018
Contact/Follow us @ TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Phillip on Twitter @PJordanSports
Topics in this story
Gathered from external sources. Rights to this text belong to whoever originally published it.