Auburn 2023 football schedule

This year, the Tigers got to chill at home for five straight weekends until October.

Next season will be quite different, with Auburn traveling 1,000-plus miles west two separate times in September.

Auburn’s full 2023 football schedule was released by the SEC on Tuesday evening, unveiling dates that were unknown previously for nine of 12 regular-season games (nonconference matchups with UMass, Cal and New Mexico State had been locked in for a few years). The Tigers learned how their eight-game SEC slate plays out, along with its FCS foe: Samford.

Regardless of what Auburn’s roster looks like next year, its first month of SEC play would be brutal for any team: at Texas A&M in Week 4, Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium, a bye week, then a road trip to LSU.

It’s almost a full year in advance — and who knows what Auburn will look like from a program standpoint in 2023 — but let’s take a look at each of the Tigers’ opponents and offer some early thoughts on the games.

vs. UMass (Sept. 2)

One of two straight first-time matchups for Auburn to begin the season, the Tigers will ease into things against a program that’s struggled to get off the ground since restarting its football team in 2012. The Minutemen have zero winning seasons in the modern era, though former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown will look to get things turned around.

@ Cal (Sept. 9)

The first meeting between the SEC and Pac-12 programs will entail one of the farthest distances for Auburn to play a football game in the modern era (2,439 miles). Cal made two straight bowls under Justin Wilcox from 2018-19, then went 6-10 the following two seasons. Wilcox had one of the program’s most successful recruiting classes in recent seasons last year, though there’s still no reason to think Auburn will have a good shot to win this game based on talent alone.

vs. Samford (Sept. 16)

In yet another locally focused FCS matchup for Auburn, the Tigers will host Samford for the fourth time since 2011, with the last game a 52-0 win in 2019. Auburn is 15-0-1 all time against the Bulldogs, dating back to their first meeting in 1903. This year, Samford coach Chris Hatcher is looking for his first winning season since 2018.

@ Texas A&M (Sept. 23)

Auburn last opened SEC competition against the Aggies in 2019, when it notched a ranked road win early in the season to complement the season-opening win over Oregon. Next year, a trip to College Station will kick off a three-game swing against what will likely be some of the most talented teams in the sport. Texas A&M isn’t playing like the SEC contender it thought it could be this season, though in 2023, the best recruiting class in college football history will be a year older, and Jimbo Fisher will likely have a better read on his quarterback situation. It’s tough to envision Auburn not being a decent underdog here.

vs. Georgia (Sept. 30)

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry will kick off in September for the first time ever, with Auburn’s SEC home opener coming against a team that’s firmly in the Playoff picture once again this season. As usual, the Bulldogs will likely be replacing a ton of NFL talent, plus quarterback Stetson Bennett, as the Tigers will look to snap what will probably be a six-game losing streak in the series — the longest for Georgia since it won nine straight games in the early ‘50s.

@ LSU (Oct. 14)

What will LSU look like in Year 2 under Brian Kelly? Auburn’s bye week breaks up the murderous opening stretch before it travels back to Baton Rouge, where it won for the first time since 1999 last season. Of course, Auburn faces LSU at home next Saturday. Regardless of how well-meshed the Bayou Bengals become in 2022, they should still be one of Auburn’s most talented opponents on the docket next year.

vs. Ole Miss (Oct. 21)

Ole Miss has certainly been no slouch under Lane Kiffin, but this game does seem like a relative breather for the Tigers in mid-October. Auburn, after all, has won six straight games over the Rebels, though that streak could be in jeopardy this season, when the Tigers have to face a ranked Ole Miss squad in Oxford a week after traveling to Georgia.

vs. Mississippi State (Oct. 28)

Playing the Mississippi schools, let alone hosting them, in back-to-back weeks is one of the more intriguing tidbits about Auburn’s 2023 schedule. Of course, Auburn blew a 25-point lead last season and lost at home to Mississippi State for the first time since 2015. At the moment, this looks like an important win for the Tigers next year, considering it’s probably the easiest SEC home game and the second-easiest conference game on the docket after Vanderbilt.

@ Vanderbilt (Nov. 4)

Speaking of the ‘Dores, Auburn will face Vanderbilt as its cross-division opponent for the first time since 2016, and will travel to Nashville for the first time since 2012 — when the Tigers, of course, lost during a winless SEC campaign. Auburn has lost two straight games in Nashville. Vanderbilt looks improved in Year 2 under Clark Lea, already halfway to bowl eligibility through four games (3-1).

@ Arkansas (Nov. 11)

Like Ole Miss, Auburn has won six straight games over the Hogs, but again, that winning streak will likely be tested in a big way later this season. The Razorbacks are currently in the top 10 of the AP poll, just like they were early last season under Sam Pittman, and boast one of the conference’s best defenses. Pittman has taken that program nowhere but up since arriving in 2020, and Arkansas will be out to cement itself as a notch above Auburn in the SEC West pecking order, both this season and in 2023.

vs. New Mexico State (Nov. 18)

Meeting for the first time since 2012, Auburn gets New Mexico State as its pick-me-up game before the Iron Bowl. Under first-year coach Jerry Kill, the Aggies are off to a disastrous 0-4 start in 2022, including a 66-7 loss at Wisconsin last week. In terms of roster talent and general direction of the program, they’re considered one of the worst teams in college football right now.