Hugh Freeze isn't the only college football head coach on the hot seat, though it's fair to say that following the Auburn Tigers' 23-17 loss to the Missouri Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night, his is among the hottest.
AU is 0-4 in SEC play after a blazing 3-0 start. The Tigers aren't alone in that dubious distinction, though.
The Florida State Seminoles, Penn State Nittany Lions, Syracuse Orange, and Mississippi State Bulldogs have all had hot starts to the season but crashed and burned in conference play, as ESPN's David Hale noted. Only Syracuse owns a win over that group, a 34-21 win over the Clemson Tigers that feels like a fever dream, given how far Fran Brown's team has fallen. Clemson also feels just as lowly as this group.
Also Orange-related: Syracuse lost in Week 1 to the Tennessee Volunteers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Point still stands, though.
"After 3 weeks, FSU, Penn State, Syracuse, Miss St and Auburn were 15-0 with wins vs Bama, Clemson, Baylor and Arizona State," Hale prefaced before saying, "They’re now a combined 1-18 in conference play."
Auburn's brand took massive hit in Hugh Freeze's tenure
The Auburn brand was in a very healthy way when Gus Malzahn was in charge. Bryan Harsin's firing was a mix of reactions that ranged from "JABA" to feeling justified in the Boise native's departure, buyout and all.
AU sticking with Freeze at this point would be "JABA" in action, especially after AD John Cohen's wildly unpopular "car won't start" speech about why he isn't planning on ditching Freeze. In year three, there is only regression offensively, this after two years of blaming Payton Thorne for most of the team's problems, only to see Jackson Arnold sink the offense to new lows.
This product can't continue to be put out each week. It's tarnishing the Auburn brand. Even if the team's should-be-all-SEC receiving corps can't look the part, the Tigers have always been known to run the ball. Offensive coordinator Derrick Nix is a rush-first play-caller. That they can't successfully rush enough to give DJ Durkin's sturdy defense more wins is as damning as it gets for Freeze's play-calling platoon.
Only Penn State had higher expectations from the aforementioned group than Auburn. The Nittany Lions already fired James Franklin.
Your move, AU. A lot of damage is done, but the UCLA Bruins are living proof that the damage could be mitigated, or even reversed, when the wrong guy in charge is removed.