Auburn football fell to 3-2 last week after losing to No. 14 Tennessee on the road, 24-14.
The loss puts Auburn at 1-2 in SEC play heading into its bye week, and it still has a path to grabbing the much-needed sixth win to qualify for a bowl game. However, the Tigers must get through a brutal October schedule that features remaining games against No. 2 Georgia, No. 10 LSU, and No. 11 Ole Miss. Auburn has a 75% chance of winning six games this season according to the ESPN Football Power Index, but may need to pull out an upset to get there.
Many national publications project the Tigers to reach the postseason ahead of Week 6. Here is a look at Auburn football's latest bowl projections ahead of this weekend's action across college football.
USA TODAY Sports
Auburn
is still hanging on to a bowl bid according to Erick Smith's latest projections for USA TODAY Sports. After forecasting the Tigers to face Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl last week, Smith now projects Auburn to face Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday, Dec. 18, in Tampa, Florida.
The Gasparilla Bowl is the fourth-earliest bowl game scheduled for the 2026-27 season, and the first bowl affiliated with a Power Four conference. The game, which has gone by several names including the Beef O'Brady's Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl, has hosted four SEC teams since its inception in 2008. Florida is the last SEC team to win the bowl game, defeating Tulane and their current head coach, Jon Sumrall, in 2024. The SEC is 2-2 in Gasparilla Bowl games.
ESPN
ESPN's experts predict Auburn will earn a trip to bowl season, with one forecasting an interesting matchup.
ESPN's Kyle Bonagura joins USA TODAY's Erick Smith in selecting the Gasparilla Bowl as Auburn's postgame destination this week, but projects the Tigers to face the former squad of Alex Golesh, Byrum Brown, Keshaun Singleton, and so many others on Auburn's roster, the USF Bulls.
Bonagura's bowl-picking partner, Mark Schlabach, projects Auburn will stay close to home and face the North Carolina Tar Heels in the J-Labs Birmingham Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 29, at Birmingham's Protective Stadium. Like Auburn, North Carolina owns a win over a Big 12 squad (TCU), and will look to get above .500 this Saturday at No. 24 Pittsburgh.
The Athletic
The Athletic has not updated its bowl projections since pitting Auburn against Illinois in the Music City Bowl in its preseason outlook. However, Auburn is projected to finish 6-6 according to The Athletic's latest CFP projections, but only has a 2% chance of earning a playoff bid.
CBS Sports
The Auburn Tigers will stay close to home according to the latest forecast from CBS Sports' Brad Crawford. Crawford calls for Auburn to face NC State in the J-Labs Birmingham Bowl in Protective Stadium on Dec. 29.
Auburn is 1-1 all-time vs. NC State, last meeting the Wolfpack in 1979.
Athlon Sports
The first outlet to omit Auburn from its latest postseason outlook is Athlon Sports. Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports failed to include the Tigers in this week's bowl projections. Auburn will have a chance to get back into bowl consideration in Week 7 on the road at Georgia.
Taylor Jones is the lead writer for Auburn Wire, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) and BlueSky. FollowAuburn Wire on X andFacebook.
This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: The latest bowl projections for the Auburn Tigers ahead of Week 6
