Auburn football (Mandatory credit: Knoxville)
If you look back at the history of Auburn football, there were plenty of seasons where they were just underneath the very top of the SEC…aka no man’s land in college football, no matter the conference.
Winning your conference has always been the ticket to the postseason for Saturday’s greatest past-time, and representing your region–the current day ACC notwithstanding as it pretty much does away with any regional uniformity–was always the goal of bringing together the best teams in college football to determine the true champion.
That meant teams that suffered just one loss all season in their conference tournament had no chance of taking home a title.