Who’s the Next Indiana?: SEC Edition

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By: Lucas Kochevar

This conference is the hardest one to find the next Indiana. It’s the SEC. There aren’t many teams that are as bad as Indiana was a few years ago, except for Mississippi State. Mississippi State was winless in the conference last season, but they aren’t going to magically climb to the top. The other teams towards the bottom are Kentucky and Oklahoma. The Wildcats aren’t close, but Oklahoma went to the NIL bank to improve their team dramatically. People are picking the Sooners as a dark horse playoff team. For that reason, I can’t pick them as the next Indiana. 

The Auburn Tigers are my choice for the next potential Indiana. Fans will take that as an insult, but I mean well. The Tigers are a very notable program, especially since they’ve seen national championships this quarter century, including the lone win with Cam Newton. Despite that title, the Tigers have been far from a consistent powerhouse. The last time Auburn won double digit games was 2017, when Gus Malzahn was still the head coach. 

The Tigers have been in a downturn and haven’t seen immediate improvement under head coach Hugh Freeze. Despite all this, there is reason for optimism for the Tigers with a new quarterback coming to town and a wide receiver duo that could be the best in the country. Auburn brought in two new quarterbacks in former five-star Jackson Arnold and former Stanford starter Ashton Daniels. One of those guys could step up and steady the ship for a team that needs leadership at quarterback.

Arnold has a shaky track record, but with two big time receiving threats, he could right the ship for himself and Auburn. Cam Coleman is a big time target and really ended the season strong for the Tigers. As a freshman, he totaled over 500 yards and 8 touchdowns, including big games over Texas A&M and Alabama. On the other side, the Tigers bring in Eric Singleton Jr. from Georgia Tech. A steady target for Tech, he went over 700 yards each season he was at Tech and totaled 9 touchdowns. 

That firepower, along with a lot of returning offensive lineman, could elevate Auburn to the level they’ve been at in their successful years. A main concern would be the loss of running back Jarquez Hunter to the draft. The Tigers are also returning a ton of guys to the defensive side. They might not have a ton of experience, but returning guys that have stayed with the team for a season or more is rare in today’s college football world. 

The road to the playoff is always harder in the SEC, but that also plays into Auburn's hand as they’ll have big chances to make some noise against top teams. There’s a major pro and con with the Tigers schedule. The pro is they’re taking on a lot of the conference bottom teams. The con is they have to take on Georgia and Alabama, as they always do. They manage to play both at home, which definitely plays into their hand as Jordan-Haire is often cited as one of the hardest places to play in the SEC.

The Tigers feel due for one of those magical seasons where all the bounces tend to go there way. The simple question that Tigers fans will ask the country is ‘why not?’ as they never seem to plan these magical runs. The way that Indiana fans felt for a lot of last year is a spot that the Tigers could find themselves in as they have suffered through some brutal teams the past couple of seasons. I’m never shocked when Auburn has some voodoo up their sleeve and I could see it this season.