Auburn has added an Atlantic 10 opponent to its non-conference schedule for the 2017-18 season and Bruce Pearl is still seeking a marquee Power 5 conference game.

The Tigers will host George Mason this fall in the first ever meeting of the teams. George Mason is Auburn's third home non-conference opponent announced publicly along with UAB and UConn.

"That's your classic, who we play," Pearl said. "That classic team that's been in the tournament, that's got a good team coming back."

George Mason went 20-14 overall and 9-9 in the A10 under second-year coach Dave Paulsen last season, losing in the opening round of the CBI. The Patriots, who had an RPI of 123 last season, lose their leading scorer from last season but return two of their top four scorers.

Auburn is also scheduled to play at Dayton and has four neutral-site games with Middle Tennessee at the BJCC in Birmingham and three games as part of the Charleston Classic. Pearl said there are a handful of other non-conference home games that haven't been announced yet and he is still trying to add a Power 5 opponent to the slate for next season after Auburn was not part of the 10 teams in the Big XII/SEC Challenge.

"I'm still waiting on one and I'm still waiting on a big one," Pearl said. "Power 5 conference and probably on the road. Am I going to get it? I don't know. ... It boils down to, well do they want to play us or don't they want to play us? They want to play somebody easier or whatever. I'd like to still add one more big game if I can."

With the SEC's schedule policy now for teams to schedule teams with a three-year RPI average of 150 or better, the field of potential opponents is more exclusive. Pearl said it's also made it "more expensive" to schedule home non-conference games and finding teams will to do a home-and-home series is not an easy task.

"The major impediment for us attracting quality home-and-home teams is we don't have a lot of people that need to come to Alabama to recruit," Pearl said. "So it's not like I can (say) 'Hey, come bring Johnny home.' There's only so many players that are in the state and they're not all over the country playing at these high-major places, so it's not a recruiting destination for a high-major team to come here.

"And we're a pretty good team; we were 11-2 last year in the non-conference with a very young team. I think it's safe to say that people don't want to play us because we're pretty good and historically we don't have a very good name."