Sunday reflections from Auburn and beyond

How Auburn’s best teams fared against ranked teams

“Who you play has a lot to do with how you look.” That was one of the late Pat Dye’s favorite sayings during his 12-season tenure as Auburn’s head coach. That’s a take that has been proved to be true far more often than not.

Starting with Dye’s first SEC championship in 1983, here’s a look at the ranked teams faced by Auburn’s better teams and how they fared:

1983: Beat No. 17 Florida State, No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Maryland, No. 4 Georgia, No. 19 Alabama and No. 9 Michigan. Lost to No. 3 Texas. Total: 6-1 against ranked teams.

1986: Beat No. 13 Mississippi State and No. 7 Alabama. Lost to unranked Florida and unranked Georgia. Total: 2-0 against ranked teams.

1987: Beat No. 10 Florida, No. 8 Georgia and No. 8 Alabama. Lost to No. 4 Florida State. Tied No. 11 Tennessee and No. 4 Syracuse. Total:  3-1-2 against ranked teams.

1988: Beat No. 17 Georgia and No. 17 Alabama. Lost to No. 4 Florida State and unranked LSU. Total 2-2 against ranked teams.

1989: Beat No. 19 Florida, No. 3 Alabama and No. 21 Ohio State. Lost to No. 12 Tennessee and No. 14 Florida State. Total 3-2 against ranked teams.

1993: Beat No. 4 Florida and No. 11 Alabama. Total: 2-1 against ranked teams.

1994: Beat No. 1 Florida. Lost to No. 4 Alabama. Tied unranked Georgia. Total: 2-0 against ranked teams.

1997: Beat No. 10 LSU and No. 7 Georgia. Lost to unranked Mississippi State, No. 7 Florida and No. 3 Tennessee. Total: 2-2 against ranked teams

2004: Beat No. 5 LSU, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 8 Georgia, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 9 Michigan. Total: 5-0 against ranked teams.

2006: Beat No. 6 LSU, No. 2 Florida and No. 22 Nebraska. Lost to unranked Arkansas and unranked Georgia. Total: 3-0 against ranked teams.

2010: Beat No. 12 South Carolina, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 6 LSU, No. 9 Alabama, No. 18 South Carolina and No. 2 Oregon. Total: 6-0 against ranked teams.

2013: Beat No. 24 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 25 Georgia, No. 1 Alabama, No. 5 Missouri. Lost to No. 6 LSU and No. 1 Florida State. Total: 5-2 against ranked teams.

2017: Beat No. 24 Mississippi State, No. 1 Georgia and No. 1 Alabama. Lost to No. 3 Clemson, No. 6 Georgia, No. 10 Central Florida. Total: 3-3 against ranked teams.