Auburn opens at No. 10 in preseason coaches poll

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn will begin the 2018 season at No. 10 in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll, released Thursday. It's the third time in Gus Malzahn's six seasons as head coach that the Tigers have been ranked in the top 10 in the preseason coaches poll. 
 
Auburn is one of five SEC teams ranked in the top 25 and one of three ranked in the top 10. The Tigers won the West a year ago but came up short in the SEC title game. 
 
"There's such a fine line in this conference of winning the conference championship and coming close," Malzahn said at SEC Media Days last month. "We came close last year, and we've got to figure out a way to take that next step. That's easier said than done. But the good thing is we do have a lot of the players that experienced how close we were, and we have our staff back that experienced that.

"So, when I say that we're hungry, it's really because of that. Being close to winning the SEC championship, being close to being in the final four, and we have to figure out a way to take that next step."
 
Auburn's first opponent, Washington, is ranked No. 6 in this year's preseason coaches poll. The two sides will square off in Atlanta on Sept. 1 as part of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff.
 
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf