AUBURN, Ala. – When Auburn opens the season in Atlanta a week from Saturday, the Tigers will indeed be a top-10 team.
The Associated Press Top 25 was released Monday, and Auburn is ranked No. 9 in the initial poll. It's the fourth time in the past five years that the Tigers have been ranked 12th or higher to begin the season, and it's their highest preseason ranking in the poll since they began the season No. 6 in 2015.
Last year, Auburn finished No. 10 in the AP poll.
"We were so close last year," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "We won the SEC West, the toughest division in college football. We were a game away from the final four, which is everybody's goal. We've got to figure out a way to take that next step. And that's challenging. But that's really what we're talking about.
"Like I said, a lot of our players are back, most of our coaches are back. So I really feel like we have a hungry team. But you look at our schedule, it's a man's schedule."
That schedule begins with a Washington team that's ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP poll. It's the first of five games against top 25 opponents, which also includes trips to No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia and No. 18 Mississippi State, as well as a home game against No. 25 LSU.
Auburn also landed in the top 10 of the preseason coaches poll, which came out earlier this month.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
Auburn enters season at No. 9 in AP Top 25
