Auburn came out of nowhere in 2016 after going 8-5 (5-3 in the SEC) en route to a Sugar Bowl appearance against the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Tigers suffered multiple losses from last year’s team, including DE Carl Lawson, DT Montravius Adams, RT Robert Leff and LG Alex Kozan, but they’re still expected to be even better this season.

Let’s take a look at some of the best and worst-case scenarios for a team looking to make its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Dream scenarios

1. Stidham lives up to the hype: Jarrett Stidham has been getting a lot of attention heading into the 2017 season. Most recently, he was ranked as the No. 22 college football player according to ESPN — before playing a single down for the Tigers.

High expectations are nothing new to the former 4-star recruit, and while it’s a limited sample size, he has lived up to those expectations thus far. As a true freshman at Baylor back in 2015, he threw for 1,265 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 68.8 percent of his passes.

Most recently, Stidham carved up Auburn’s second-team defense in the annual A-Day game — completing 16 of 20 passes (80 percent) for 267 yards. When he has been on the field, he has continuously shown why he was the No. 1 junior college prospect in this year’s recruiting cycle.

If the 6-foot-3, 214-pound dual-threat QB can stay healthy, Auburn could have its best season since 2013.

2. The RBs stay healthy: It’s clear that Auburn has one of the best running back duos in the SEC, but the two-headed monster can only be used properly if both players are on the field.

Auburn faithful hope to see a healthy season for both Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson. The two combined for 2,119 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in 2016, even though both missed games with injuries.

Having both players maintain their health will provide the Tigers with the best chance of winning the SEC West. Their presence will take some pressure off of Stidham, which will benefit the entire offense.

3. Davidson becomes a force: Even as a true freshman, Marlon Davidson was already showing that he belonged in the SEC in 2016. He played in all 13 games, and he finished with 38 tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

At 6-3, 282, Davidson has the ideal build to play as a 4-3 base end and also can kick inside in passing situations. His 2.5 sacks didn’t accurately represent the level of impact he had on Auburn’s defense last season, so don’t be surprised if those numbers improve.

In fact, Sports Illustrated is expecting a huge increase in production from Davidson — it ranks him No. 90 on their list of the top 100 college football players.

Auburn only tied for eighth in the SEC in sacks (25) last season, and the Tigers lost their top two pass rushers in Lawson (9.0 sacks) and Adams (4.5). The Tigers are counting on Davidson to get after opposing quarterbacks in 2017.

4. Lindsey is the answer at OC: It was nice to see Auburn kick it old school last season with the run-heavy offense, but that blueprint isn’t sustainable if the Tigers want to hang with high-scoring offenses in the SEC.

Chip Lindsey was brought in to bring more balance to an offense that ran the ball 69.1 percent of the time in 2016. If he can team with Stidham to give Auburn a complementary — but still elite — passing game, the sky is the limit for the Tigers.

The hope at Auburn is that Malzahn turning the reins over to Lindsey will be enough to help the Tigers make their third national championship game appearance since 2010.

5. Alabama falters: For Auburn fans, there would be nothing sweeter than to see the in-state rival struggle. That has been rare over the past decade, but we are talking about a dream scenario here.

The Crimson Tide is looking to replace seven starters on defense, and they lost several weapons in the passing game with the departure of TE O.J. Howard and WRs ArDarius Stewart and Gehrig Dieter.

Auburn should be improved this year while Alabama could take a step back if nobody steps up to replace the nine players who went in the top four rounds of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Disaster scenarios

1. Stidham is Jeremy Johnson 2.0: Everyone remembers the hype that was surrounding Jeremy Johnson entering the 2015 season. The guy seemed to have it all — size (6-5, 234 pounds), arm strength, mobility. So, what happened?

No one truly knows, but Auburn fans are keeping their fingers crossed that Stidham doesn’t turn into the second coming of Johnson. Now, the backup position is in much better shape with last year’s starter Sean White still on the team. But his struggles to consistently push the ball downfield crippled the offense at times.

Auburn has a good chance of pushing for a spot in the College Football Playoff, but that chance will diminish greatly if Stidham doesn’t live up to the hype.

2. Neither RB can stay healthy: So far, 2017 hasn’t been kind to the Auburn running backs.

Pettway missed the A-Day as the staff tried to preserve him for the season. In other words, the injuries have piled up to a point where precautions have to be taken to try to keep the 6-0, 240-pound running back healthy. On top of that, Kerryon Johnson left the spring game early with a high ankle sprain.

The Tigers need their thunder and lightning this season, so it could be a disaster if either of them miss time.

3. The defense can’t replace the departed pass rush: Again, Auburn only generated 25 sacks last season. What’s even more worrisome for the Tigers is that 58 percent of that sack production is gone.

With Auburn’s offense poised to put up big numbers on a weekly basis, a capable pass rush is needed to compliment that high offensive output.

What if the Tigers can’t? What if Jeff Holland isn’t able to replace Lawson at the Buck position? What if Davidson struggles to take the next step as expected? Those are questions that could decide whether Auburn takes that next step toward competing for an SEC West title.