ATLANTA -- Auburn's season opener against Washington on Sept. 1 will be the Tigers' third consecutive game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Tigers hope their next visit to the home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons will go better than the past two.
AUBURN 2018 SCHEDULE
Sept. 1 vs. Washington (Atlanta)
Sept. 8 Alabama State
*Sept. 15 LSU
*Sept. 22 Arkansas
Sept. 29 Southern Miss
*Oct. 6 at Mississippi State
*Oct. 13 Tennessee
*Oct. 20 at Ole Miss
*Nov. 3 Texas A&M
*Nov. 10 at Georgia
Nov. 17 Liberty
*Nov. 24 at Alabama
*SEC game
AUBURN GLANCE
LAST SEASON 10-4, 7-1 (tie 1st) in SEC West
COACH Gus Malzahn (45-22 in five seasons at Auburn, 54-25 in six seasons overall)
RETURNING STARTERS (13): Offense 6, Defense 7
KEY RETURNING PLAYERS QB Jarrett Stidham, RB Kam Martin, WR Ryan Davis, OL Marquel Harrell, LB Deshaun Davis, LB Darrell Williams, DL Derrick Brown, DL Dontavius Russell.
SEC TITLE SCENARIO Malzahn solidified his position as Auburn’s coach with victories over Alabama and Georgia last season and by winning the SEC West title. Auburn rewarded him with a contract extension and raise to thwart a bid by Arkansas to bring Malzahn back to his home state. The Tigers again should compete with Alabama and Georgia for SEC supremacy, but unlike last season, they have to play the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs on the road.
SEC FOOTBALL PREVIEW
Twelfth in a series previewing the 2018 SEC football season
Auburn earned a trip to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the SEC Championship Game last season by beating Alabama 26-14 to win the West.
If the Tigers had beaten Georgia in Atlanta after pounding the Bulldogs 40-17 in Auburn during the regular season, they would have been among the four teams in the College Football Playoff.
But Georgia won 28-7, sending the Tigers back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Peach Bowl, where they lost to Central Florida 34-27.
"The bowl loss ... we didn't get it done," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said at SEC football media days last week. "We laid an egg that day.
"That's not taking anything away from our opponent, an excellent team. But we weren't happy with the way that season ended. That's something that our team has really used to motivate them over the summer. I know our coaches feel the same way as far as that goes."
Adding to the Tigers' frustration: Alabama and Georgia played in the national championship game.
"That was really hard to watch, knowing that we played those teams and beat them convincingly," Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "But you can say Georgia beat us when it counted the most.
"Give them all the credit. They bounced back and they prepared for us very well, and they got the win to put them in position to play for the national championship. I tip my hat to both those teams.
"Hopefully, we can be in that position this year."
The Tigers return 13 starters from a 10-4 team -- which also lost at Clemson and LSU -- and had nine players voted onto three all-conference preseason teams.
"Overall, I really like our team," Malzahn said. "I like our leaders. There's nothing like experience in our league, and we experienced some highs, some lows.
"I just really sense urgency and a hunger from this group."
Junior quarterback Jarrett Stidham is back to lead the offense after completing 246 of 370 passes (an SEC-leading 66.5 percent) for 3,158 yards and 18 touchdowns with 6 interceptions. It was his first season at Auburn after transferring from McLennan (Texas) Community College and playing at Baylor as a freshman in 2015.
"The way he was playing middle part of the year, end of the year, was really phenomenal," Malzahn said. "[SEC] defenses are different than other leagues, and I just really like the way he handled himself.
"He's a very tough young man, mentally and physically. I think our offense is in very good hands going into this second year."
Stidham said he improved as he became more comfortable playing for Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey.
"At the beginning of the year we started slow, kind of sluggish," Stidham said. "We were still trying to figure out what we were going to be best at. I was trying to figure out Coach Lindsey. Him and Coach Malzahn were trying to figure out who I was as a player.
"Throughout the season, we saw a progression week to week. We're going to be hitting on close to all cylinders moreso at the beginning of the season rather than waiting until half way or the end of the season."
Junior guards Mike Horton (seven starts) and Marquel Harrell (six starts) are Auburn's most experienced offensive linemen.
"Really, I think the key to our offense is going to be our offensive line and how quick they can come together," Malzahn said. "We're very inexperienced. But I will say this: We're talented.
"It's just going to be a matter of time, and hopefully sooner rather than later that that group jells."
Malzahn said he's confident Auburn will run the ball effectively despite the loss of Kerryon Johnson, whose 1,391 rushing yards led the SEC. Junior Kam Martin is the Tigers' leading returning rusher with 453 yards.
"If we played today, Kam Martin would be the first guy out there, but we do have four or five other guys that we feel very good about that are competing for time," Malzahn said. "We've had nine straight 1,000-yard rushers at Auburn. I really feel strongly that streak will continue."
Stidham's top returning receivers are Ryan Davis (84 catches for 815 yards) and Darius Slayton (29 for 643).
Malzahn said he believes the Tigers' strength will be their defensive line, where juniors Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson and senior Dontavius Russell all made the All-SEC teams voted on by the media.
Davis is back to lead the linebackers after making a team-high 82 tackles last season when the Tigers held opponents to an average of 18.3 points.
"I think ... we have a chance to be as good defensively," Malzahn said. "Or possibly even better."
Auburn's defense kept the Tigers in the SEC Championship Game going into the fourth quarter when Georgia led 13-7, but the Bulldogs scored two touchdowns -- capped by D'Andre Swift's 64-yard run -- to pull away.
Georgia outgained Auburn 421-252, and the Bulldogs didn't have any turnovers while the Tigers had two.
"It's always hard to beat a team twice, especially in the SEC," Davis said. "But when you sign a scholarship to play SEC football, that's what you sign up for. You're going to play the best teams week in and week out, and sometimes you might have to beat a team twice.
"It's been done before. Auburn has actually done it before."
Auburn swept Tennessee in 2004 and South Carolina in 2010 en route to winning SEC championships.
"We just fell short in that second game," Davis said of losing to Georgia. "That's when you're supposed to play your best, and honestly, it's probably when we played our worst."
Losing a chance to win the SEC title and be in the playoffs, Davis said, made it tough to get excited about playing Central Florida, even though the Knights were 13-0.
"They took that game way more seriously than we did," Davis said. "Not taking any credit from them. They're a good football team. They have every right to walk around with their head high.
"They won the game, we lost, so we've just got to get that bad taste out of our mouths when we come back to Atlanta this year."
Beating Washington, which is expected to be a preseason top 10 team, could be big for Auburn's chances of making the playoff.
"When I say that we're hungry, it's really because of being close to winning the SEC championship, being close to being in the final four," Malzahn said. "We've got to figure out a way to take that next step."
Davis said the Tigers are ready to do that.
"My expectations are to win it all," he said. "I don't want to win 10 games. I don't want to win 11 games. However many games it takes to win a national championship, that's what I want to do."
Sports on 07/28/2018