Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

The College Football Hall of Fame has inducted a total of 12 individuals from Auburn, including eight student-athletes and four head coaches: John Heisman, Mike Donahue, Ralph Jordan, and Pat Dye.

The Tigers and Crimson Tide meet annually in the Iron Bowl, one of the biggest rivalries in all of sports.

[2] Three Auburn players, Pat Sullivan in 1971, Bo Jackson in 1985, and Cam Newton in 2010 have won the Heisman Trophy.

However, this achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the Tigers being left out of the BCS championship game in deference to two other undefeated, higher ranked teams, USC and Oklahoma.

The Tigers went on to defeat the Oregon Ducks 22–19 in their first appearance in the BCS National Championship Game on January 10, 2011, in Glendale, Arizona.

The 2010 team was led by quarterback Cam Newton, who became the Heisman trophy winner of 2010 along with multiple other awards.

Auburn faced #1 Florida State in the 2014 BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl, falling to the Seminoles in the final seconds, 31–34.

[16] The Bleacher Report placed Auburn as the 18th best program of all time in their power rankings conducted after the 2010 season.

Auburn, led by senior captain Kirk Newell, finished as SIAA champions for the first time in school history.

[30] The 1957 Auburn Tigers, led by coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan, finished with a perfect 10–0 record, marking the school's first ever SEC championship.

Auburn was recognized as national champions by the AP Poll even though they were on probation and did not participate in a bowl game.

This was the first of only two times in the history of the AP championship that it was awarded to a team on probation not allowed to participate in a bowl game (it would occur again in 1974 with Oklahoma).

The 1983 Auburn Tigers, led by head coach Pat Dye and running back Bo Jackson, finished 11–1 after playing the nation's toughest schedule.

The New York Times ranked Auburn number one at the conclusion of the season, as did several other math system selectors.

The Tigers were the only undefeated team in major college football; however, they were banned from playing on television or post-season games due to NCAA violations.

The Tigers, led by head coach Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn, completed a 12–0 regular season record and defeated South Carolina in the 2010 SEC Championship Game.

Auburn went on to have two first round picks in the 2011 NFL draft with Cam Newton going number one and Nick Fairley going 13th.

The most recent appearance came in 2017 as Auburn completed the regular season 10–2, losing a rematch to Georgia in the 2017 SEC Championship Game.

Auburn has also shared the Western Division title, but did not play in the championship game due to tiebreakers on three occasions.

[31] In that time, eight coaches have led the Tigers in postseason bowl games: Jack Meagher, Ralph Jordan, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, Tommy Tuberville, Gene Chizik, Gus Malzahn, and Bryan Harsin.

[32] Billy Watkins, Mike Donahue, Chet A. Wynne, Jordan, Dye, Tuberville, Chizik, and Malzahn won a combined 12 conference championships.

[26]: 172–183, 125–132 Historically, Auburn has two main rivals, the cross-state Alabama Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl, and the bordering Georgia Bulldogs in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.

The largest Tiger Walk occurred on December 2, 1989, before the first ever home football game against rival Alabama—the Iron Bowl.

According to former athletic director David Housel, Tiger Walk has become "the most copied tradition in all of college football".

According to the story, in the stands that day was an old Civil War soldier with an eagle he had found injured on a battlefield and kept as a pet.

The oak trees were cut down by the university in April 2013, as a result of their being poisoned by Harvey Updyke Jr., a fan of rival Alabama.

The Tech team was forced to walk the five miles back to Auburn and, not surprisingly, were rather weary at the end of their journey.