It’s selection day. What are Auburn’s final bowl projections?

It’s selection day. What are Auburn’s final bowl projections?

Welcome, finally, to selection day.

At some point Sunday afternoon, Auburn will find out where it is headed to play its bowl game following a 6-6 regular season in 2023.

Selection day is going to center around the chaos on which teams will get put in the four-team College Football Playoff. Auburn isn’t going to be one of them, of course, but how those four teams come together could have an impact on Auburn’s bowl selection.

If both Alabama and Georgia are put in the Playoff, it could move SEC teams below them up a spot in the SEC’s priority list come the lower tier games. If neither team makes it, those teams below Alabama and Georgia could all slide down a spot, potentially.

But that’s a chaos scenario, and for now, that doesn’t exist.

What’s highly more realistic is Auburn taking a trip to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Most projections believe that’s where Auburn is most likely headed, but the opponent is more uncertain — likely either Wisconsin or Northwestern.

Here’s a look at what experts are saying in their final projections.

Music City Bowl, 1 p.m. on Dec. 30, 2023, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy projects Auburn to play Maryland. McMurphy moved his projections around including moving Wisconsin and Tennessee into the ReliaQuest Bowl from the Music City and Gator Bowl, respectively. He then put LSU in the Gator Bowl. That didn’t change Auburn’s slot in Nashville, but it did change the opponent. McMurphy has Alabama making the Playoff but not Georgia.

– The Athletic picks Auburn against Northwestern

– 247Sports picks Auburn against Wisconsin

– ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura picks Auburn against Wisconsin and ESPN’s Mark Schlabach picks Auburn against Northwestern

– CBS picks Auburn to play Wisconsin

– Bleacher Report projects Auburn to play Minnesota

– Saturday Down South projects Auburn to play Wisconsin

Birmingham Bowl, 11 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2023, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama

– USA Today projects Auburn to play West Virginia in the Birmingham Bowl. We are including this projection for continuity with previous bowl projection articles, but this USA Today prediction is extremely unlikely, if not impossible. The USA Today article did not select an SEC team for the Liberty Bowl, Mayo Bowl or Texas Bowl which are all part of the SEC’s Pool of Six, a tier of bowl games above the Birmingham Bowl. The SEC would not, and contractually probably cannot, put Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl and bypass three other bowl games that Auburn is both eligible for and a fit for.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]