No More Excuses for Hugh Freeze as Auburn Hot Seat Continues to Heat Up

AUBURN, Ala.- The Auburn Tigers currently have a record of 3-2, and 0-2 in conference play to start the 2025 season after wins over the Baylor Bears, Ball State Cardinals and the South Alabama Jaguars, and losses to the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas A&M Aggies. 

In year three of the Hugh Freeze era, which already includes back-to-back losing seasons, the question on if the end of his time with program is coming has been reignited.

So far in his career at Auburn, Freeze is 1-10 against ranked opponents and 5-13 in SEC playwith an overall record of 14-16. Over his first two seasons, his shortcomings were excused for the program not having the roster Freeze wanted for his scheme.

Now, that excuse is far out of the window for Freeze. 

For reference, his predecessor Bryan Harsin had a 9-12 overall record at Auburn and did not make it through his second season, being fired after a 3-5 start to year two. In his first year at Auburn, the Tigers finished 6-7 with a loss in the Birmingham Bowl to the Houston Cougars. 

Harsin also failed to recruit at Freeze's level. In 2021, Auburn finished 18th in recruiting and 21st in 2022. Under Freeze, Auburn has had nothing but top-10 recruiting classes, which may be the only reason why Freeze has a longer leash than Harsin had.

This Auburn roster, on paper at least, is the best roster that Freeze has gathered thus far in his tenure. 

One of the biggest struggles of the team is that the offensive play calling is just simply not good. Over the first three games, Auburn averaged nearly 250 rushing yards a game. In the last two games, that average plummeted to 59.5 rushing yards per game. Not because the run was being stopped, but because the run game has been almost completely abandoned. 

He continues to claim that “we’re not that far off,” yet the results continue to be the same for Auburn. On field results have not changed for Auburn, but the recruiting numbers are there. At some point in the near future, the Auburn family will accept not only off the field victories, but victories on the gridiron as well. 

Freeze will have a chance to prove he still belongs as Auburn’s head coach, when they host the Georgia Bulldogs after an idle week. Freeze has yet to defeat Georgia, and Auburn has not defeated them since 2017.

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