The 2021 Auburn Tigers football team represented

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in the

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 152nd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The r ...

. The Tigers played their home games at

Jordan–Hare Stadium Jordan–Hare Stadium (properly pronounced n central Alabama dialectas ) is an American football stadium in Auburn, Alabama on the campus Auburn University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Auburn Tigers football team. The stadium ...

Auburn, Alabama Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama, with a 2020 population of 76,143. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population o ...

, and competed in the Western Division of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). They were led by first-year head coach

Bryan Harsin Bryan Dale Harsin (born November 1, 1976) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach at Auburn University. Prior to leading the Auburn Tigers, he coached the Boise State University Broncos from the 2014 ...

. They finished the season at 6–7, the program's first season finishing below .500 since 2012.

Previous season

The Tigers finished the 2020 season 6–5, 6–4 in SEC play to finish in third place in the Western Division. Head coach

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

was fired at the end of the regular season after finishing 6–4 in his eighth season. Defensive coordinator

Kevin Steele Kevin Steele (born March 17, 1958) is an American football coach and former player, currently serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Miami. Steele has previously worked as defensive coordinator at Auburn, LSU, Clemson, and c ...

coached in the bowl game. The Tigers were invited to the

Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Cheez-It Bowl and Florida Classic. The gam ...

where they lost to Northwestern. Boise State head coach,

, was hired on December 22.

Offseason

Position key

Preseason

Spring game

The A-Day spring game was held on Saturday, April 17. Team Auburn defeated Team Tigers 17–3. Running back

Tank Bigsby Cartavious "Tank" Bigsby (born August 30, 2001) is an American football running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Auburn. Early years Bigsby attended Callaway High School in ...

was named Offensive MVP, cornerback Trey Elston was named Defensive MVP, and kicker Anders Carlson was named Special Teams MVP.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

SEC media days

The SEC Media Days were held July 19–22, 2021 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham – The Wynfrey Hotel in

Hoover, Alabama Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. Hoover is the largest suburban city in Alabama and the 6th largest city in Alabama. The city had a population of 92,606 as of the 2020 US Census. Hoover ...

. Coach

, quarterback

Bo Nix Bo Nix (born February 25, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the Oregon Ducks. Nix played with the Auburn Tigers from 2019 to 2021 before transferring to Oregon in 2022. High school career Nix was born on February 25, 2000, in Arka ...

, and linebacker Owen Pappoe spoke on Thursday, July 22.

Preseason All-SEC teams

Offense ''1st team''

– RB Nick Brahms – C ''3rd team''

– QB Defense ''2nd team''

Zakoby McClain Zakoby McClain (born March 7, 2000) is an American football inside linebacker for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Auburn Tigers football, Auburn. High school career McClain attend ...

– LB Smoke Monday – DB ''3rd team''

Derick Hall Derick Hall is an American football defensive end for the Auburn Tigers. High School career Hall attended Gulfport High School in Gulfport, Mississippi. Coming out of high school, he was a 4 star prospect, the 147th overall recruit and the 8th r ...

– DL Owen Pappoe – LB

Roger McCreary Roger Lee McCreary (born February 10, 2000) is an American football cornerback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Auburn, where he was an All-American in 2021. High school career McCr ...

– DB Specialists ''2nd team''

– AP ''3rd team'' Anders Carlson – PK

Staff

*Cornelius Williams was fired as wide receivers coach after 4 games. *Mike Bobo was fired as Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach on November 29, 2021.

Schedule

:Schedule Source:

Game summaries

Akron

Alabama State

at No. 10 Penn State

Georgia State

at LSU

No. 2 Georgia

at No. 17 Arkansas

No. 10 Ole Miss

at No. 14 Texas A&M

Mississippi State

at South Carolina

No. 3 Alabama

No. 20 Houston (Birmingham Bowl)

Rankings

References

{{Auburn Tigers football navbox

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

Auburn Tigers football seasons

Auburn Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division o ...