Ranking the Top 100 College Football Teams for 2018: No. 6 Auburn

In the 100 days leading up to the kickoff of the college football season on Saturday, Aug. 25, HERO Sports is ranking the top 100 teams in the FBS. Each day, starting May 17 and ending Aug. 24, a new team is revealed in the HERO Sports Top 100. 

No. 6 Auburn

Expectations are through the roof for an Auburn program with a $49-million head coach, their best quarterback since Cam Newton, a nasty defensive line and several All-America candidates peppered throughout the two-deep.

Anything less than a College Football Playoff berth for Jarrett Stidham, Marlon Davidson, Jamel Dean and Co. will be a disappointment.

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2017 Record: 10-4 (7-1, SEC)

Auburn won 10 games (and seven SEC games) for the first time since 2012, beat Alabama for the third time in eight years, throttled eventual SEC champion and national runner-up Georgia, and beat nine-win Mississippi State by 39 points.

However, for all the good that happened in 2017, their 21-point loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship crushed everything. 

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Head Coach: Gus Malzahn (6th Year, 45-22)

After fielding a seven-year, $50-million offer from Arkansas (and hot seat chatter through most of the last three years), Gus Malzahn signed a seven-year contract extension in December that's worth $49 million. It replaced an existing deal worth $4.725 annually through the 2020 season.

Already-high expectations are now through the roof. When you're making $7 million per year, you better challenge Alabama for the SEC West title each year.

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Player Losses

RB Kerryon Johnson, RB Kamryn Pettway, OL Braden Smith, LB Jeff Holland, LB Tre' Williams, CB Carlton Davis, S Tray Matthews, K Daniel Carlson

Both Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway left for the NFL after combining for 47 total touchdowns and more than 4,000 rushing yards. Pettway was not drafted, signed with the Minnesota Vikings but was waived one week later.

Also, two-time All-SEC guard/tackle Braden Smith appeared in 53 career games (41 consecutive starts), linebacker Jeff Holland declared for the draft (and went undrafted) after a breakout junior season in which he led the team in sacks and tackles for loss, corner Carlton Davis was an All-SEC First-Team selection last year, and kicker Daniel Carlson hit all 198 of his PATs and 92 of 114 field goals. 

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Returning Offensive Players

QB Jarrett Stidham, RB Kam Martin, HB Chandler Cox, WR Ryan Davis, WR Darius Slayton, WR Nate Craig-Myers, OT Prince Tega Wanogho Jr., G Mike Horton

Auburn's run-pass ratio of 61/39 was the 26th-highest in the country but far lower than their 67/33 ratio in 2016. Despite the run-heavy schemes (partly aided by several blowout wins), they became the eighth team in SEC history to record 3,000 rushing yards and 3,000 passing yards in the same season. Their 327 points in SEC games set a record.

Obviously, Malzahn is back, as are co-coordinators Chip Lindsey and Kodi Burns. The trio has an established pro-style passer in Jarrett Stidham, who led an efficient offense that averaged nearly nine yards per pass attempt, committed 1.2 turnovers per game and converted 91 percent of its red-zone opportunities. And they've been slowing giving Stidham more control over the offense, particularly more freedom on pre-snap reads.

"Jarrett probably has more flexibility than any quarterback that we’ve had since I’ve been in college,” Malzahn told AL.com last October. “From the standpoint to change protections, the RPOs, the decision-making, he probably has more freedom than any quarterback we’ve had."

At receiver, Auburn lost both Eli Stove and Will Hastings (55 combined receptions last year; Hastings averaged 20 yards per reception) to torn ACLs in spring practice, and while there's hope both can return at some point this season, the Tigers need to find complementary pieces to Ryan Davis, Stidham's security blanket last year (Davis caught more than one-third of all completions).

Kam Martin steps into the shoes of Pettway and Johnson, though he'll have help in the form of freshman JaTarvious Whitlow and several other inexperienced underclassmen. And they'll run behind a line that helped Auburn ball-carriers average 5.2 and 4.9 yards per carry the last two seasons but lost three starters and had one of the worst sack rates in the nation (8.9 percent). Everyone remembers the 11-sack debacle vs. Clemson.

"I'm glad Clemson happened," Stidham said at SEC Media Days. "I'm glad I got sacked 11 times because that's never going to happen to me again, I promise you that."

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Returning Defensive Players

DE Marlon Davidson, DE Nick Coe, DT Derrick Brown, DT Dontavius Russell, LB Darrell Williams, LB Montavious Atkinson, LB Deshaun Davis, CB Jamel Dean, CB Javaris Davis, S Jeremiah Dinson

Auburn held nine of their 12 regular-season opponents to 20 points or fewer, was dominant in the first half (8.5 points per first half on the season), allowed a 33-percent conversion rate on third downs, had a sack rate of 8.3 percent and forced 25 percent more turnovers than in 2016.

Kevin Steele enters his third season as defensive coordinator — although linebacker Deshaun Davis might be the real coordinator — and has a defensive line that isn't Clemson good but is one of the best in the country. When a guy like Nick Coe (below) is running primarily with the second team, your unit has remarkable high-end talent and depth.

In addition to leading tackler Deshaun Davis (82 tackles, 23 more than any other player), the linebacker group brings back Montavious Atkinson and Darrell Williams. A "fourth starter" last year, Atkinson is finally a full-time starter for his final season and should wreak havoc on the outside.

Jamel Dean and Javaris Davis lead one of the nation's best cornerback duos. The 6-foot-2, 208-pound Dean allowed catches on just 38.1 percent of his targeted passes, according to Pro Football Focus, and was called a "freak of nature" by Deshaun Davis.

“When you’re 6-foot-2 and that long and run like he does … I mean, the guy looks like a linebacker when he walks in the room,” Steele said.

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Player Additions

QB Joey Gatewood, RB JaTarvious Whitlow, WR Shedrick Jackson, OL Jack Driscoll, C Nick Brahms, S Jamien Sherwood, S Quindarious Monday, K Anders Carlson

Freshmen up the wazoo. (But UMass transfer Jack Driscoll should have the biggest impact of any addition this season.)

Jarrett Stidham has the starting job as long as he's at Auburn, but four-star freshman Joey Gatewood is the future. The top-ranked athlete in the 2018 class, Gatewood is a 6-foot-5, 237-pound dual-threat quarterback who's taken all the No. 2 reps this offseason.

"He's coachable," Malzahn said of Gatewood in March. "When Coach Lindsey has made points, he's carried it over to the practice field. He's got a very strong arm and obviously we already knew he could run well. But so far, so good. We've been impressed with him."

Redshirt freshman JaTarvious Whitlow and true freshman Shedrick Johnson are competing for snaps at running back at receiver, respectively, and redshirt freshman center Nick Brahms is trying to win a job despite breaking his leg in the spring.

True freshman Jamien Sherwood and Quindarious "Smoke" Monday are battling for snaps at field safety and boundary safety, respectively.

Also, Daniel Carlson's younger brother Anders Carlson is taking over kicking duties. He hit a 53-yard field goal in the spring game.

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Schedule

Ho. Lee. Bleep. 

While Auburn doesn't play a true road game until a trip to Mississippi State on Oct. 6, they face Washington in Atlanta and host LSU over that time. 

They don't have a bye until Week 9, have a road game vs. Georgia, and play the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa.