It looks like Danny Sheridan’s August prediction about the Auburn Tigers’ season outlook has a chance to be spot on.
Gus Malzahn’s Tigers are 8-3 heading into the regular-season finale when they host No. 5 Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium in the annual Iron Bowl.
Before the season, the oddsmaker made two charity bets. The first was over 7.5 wins for Auburn. Nailed it. The other was over 8 on regular-season wins. We’ll just put a TBD next to that one.
“I bet over 7.5 for charity,” Sheridan said Tuesday. "I bet over 8 at the Beau Rivage on regular-season wins. I predicted this is the best team Gus Malzahn’s had in six years. He has a good team every six years. In the preseason, I thought this team was great. I predicted it would win 9 or 10 games, which I may or may not be right about, but I was right on the 7.5 and I got a tie on the 8 so far."
The Crimson Tide was an early 2.5-point favorite in early betting lines from Sheridan and Westgate.
Alabama, he said Tuesday, is currently a 3.5-point road favorite, so the ninth win for the Tigers isn’t as far-fetched as many might have imagined back in August. While the over-under in August was around eight, based on the schedule the Tigers were dealing with and an unknown at quarterback, eight looked like a stretch.
In August, Sheridan called Auburn’s defensive line “the best defensive line in the country” and the defense “one of the best defenses in the country.” He added it would be better than Alabama’s defense.
“The last five years, not counting this year, everybody’s been high on Auburn,” Sheridan said. "And, every year I say preseason they are going to lose three or four games. Prediction was five or six games this year. And I said no, I say they would win nine or 10. I think they surprised a lot of people, barely losing to LSU and Georgia.
“They have been better than most people have thought.”
On Tuesday, Sheridan stopped short of giving a prediction for Saturday’s rivalry game.
“It is an interesting Iron Bowl,” Sheridan said. "One of the best defenses in the country and home-field advantage against an offense that is loaded except at quarterback, compared to Tua (Tagovailoa).
"I think (Alabama quarterback) Mac Jones is a very good quarterback. In fairness to Mac Jones, he hasn’t played that much. A factor is he never started a game on the road in an environment like this against a top-20 team."
The game kicks at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised by CBS.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.