Every Tuesday we present “The Auburn Corner,” where we’ll get into a different topic on the Auburn Tigers, break down the previous game, preview the upcoming game, and everything in between.
The absolute mess that was the 2024 Auburn Tigers season has mercifully come to an end as the team did not do enough to secure bowl eligibility and ends the year at 5-7.
After winning six games in 2023 and being embarrassed in the bowl game, expectations were high for the Tigers entering 2024. Not that anybody expected a national championship or even anything close to an SEC Championship, but expectations that the team would be more competitive and at least have a winning season.
After losses to California, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma, things got worse this season than they were last season even with a much higher level of talent. Obviously, Freeze – as he did numerous times during the season – would correctly point to the fact that they didn’t have quarterback play that would have made them capable of competing, but that doesn’t excuse multiple losses to teams with inferior talent.
Two years into his tenure as Auburn head coach, Freeze has a record of 11-14. With demonstrated evidence that the team was better than their record indicated and likely would have had more wins with a game-changing quarterback, it’s on Freeze to go get one now and change things in 2025.
He chose to stand pat with what he had in 2024 and it came back to bite him. Now, the future of his career depends on landing the right one in this cycle and having more success on the field rather than just on the recruiting trail.
Entering year three, his recruiting classes – the ones that are the only reason he’s even going to get a third season – are starting to take shape and if they are as advertised should be the core of the 2025.
In other words, Freeze is out of excuses next season. He must win in 2025 or there will be no 2026 of the Hugh Freeze era at Auburn.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
