ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit says Auburn will be “mad at the world” when second-ranked Clemson visits Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 3 in the season-opener for both programs.

Herbstreit feels the SEC’s Tigers are better than what some of the prognosticators believe. Auburn was picked to finish sixth in the SEC West by the media back in July, one notch above last place Mississippi State.

“I think they are going to be mad at the world when they play this year,” Herbstreit said via a teleconference call with the media on Wednesday. “I think defensively, they will stay in almost every game that they play, and then it is just a matter of Gus Malzahn and the offense finding ways to put enough points up on the board to win.”

Auburn returns six starters on defense, including three on the defensive line, the strength of the team. Defensive end Carl Lawson (6-2, 257), defensive tackles Montravius Adams (6-4, 296) and Dontavius Russell (6-3, 295) help make up one of the best defensive lines in the SEC.

However, new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele will have to insert three new starters at linebacker, plus two guys in the secondary. Still Herbstreit likes Auburn’s makeup on the defensive side of the ball, and they will set the tone for the rest of the team.

“I think they are going to play with a chip on their shoulder,” he said. “I think the defense is going to be one of the best in the SEC.”

Though understandable, Herbstreit said it would be dangerous to just look at what happened the last two years when evaluating this year’s Auburn team. He described them as Jekyll and Hyde program the last four or five years due to their inconsistent nature.

After winning the national championship in 2010, Auburn has gone 8-5, 3-9, 12-2, 8-5 and 7-6 the last five years. In other words, it’s not an easy team to gauge, and it’s more than capable of winning a lot of games in any given year.

“They are either really, really good or really inconsistent,” Herbstreit said.

The last two years, Auburn has gone 15-11 overall and 6-10 in the SEC. Those numbers have its head coach sitting on the hot seat.

Herbstreit said he remembers when the start of Auburn’s inconsistent play began. After getting off to a 5-0 start in 2014, then No. 2 Auburn went to Starkville, Mississippi to play the then third-ranked Bulldogs. ESPN’ College Game Day was there, and Mississippi State won the game 38-23.

Since then Auburn is just 10-11 in its last 21 games.

“It just seems like from that game on, they just have not been able to get back to being the team that they can be. In fact, I think in the last two years in conference play they are 6-10, and it has just been a struggle,” Herbstreit said. “I think if you look at that and if you look at their roster and you look at who they have at quarterback, I can see why the media said that this team is not going to compete.

“But, I would be careful by just looking at 8-5 two years ago, 7-6 last year, and 6-10 in conference play the last couple of years. I think it is easy to look at this and say that this thing is heading in the wrong direction. I just think there is a little bit more backbone to the program than maybe all of us realize on the outside.”

–Photo Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports