I respect the hell out of Auburn. I hate them, but I respect them. At the end of the day, they're a pretty damn solid program given the various impediments that they're faced with - i.e., faced with the University of Alabama in their state, the University of Georgia a up the road, a once great rivalry with Florida, annual games with LSU, etc.
In fact, in the past 40 seasons (basically since Pay Dye came to Auburn) they have more wins than LSU, Notre Dame, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington, and so on. I'm not even 40 years old, so that's my "cap" in terms of history. Anything past that, I simply do not care.
They have 30 8+ win seasons in that same span - the exact same as LSU.
Auburn has an arguable claim to the national championship in 83. Auburn also went undefeated twice, yet didn't win a title in
'93 and '04, something that is unfathomable in today's SEC.
All Auburn needs to win is a coach who can recruit Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.