The Auburn Tigers and Hugh Freeze are a union that appears to be headed for a split at some point soon. At 0-4 in SEC play, and with Freeze's coaching continuing to appear unsuitable for winning -- between his signs being easy to steal, his accountability remaining minimal, and his insistence on running nearly every play through Jackson Arnold, who doesn't appear to be working out and could be replaced by Saturday -- change could finally be coming to the Plains.
And that change may look like Penn State Nittany Lions head football coach James Franklin, who could reportedly end up at or near the top of Auburn's wish-list this offseason if the program finally cuts ties with Freeze.
There's just one problem, though. The Tigers may not trust Franklin to accomplish the most important thing an Auburn coach can accomplish: beating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl year in and year out.
"Franklin said on GameDay that he will 'win a national championship somewhere else now.' Auburn is a place where it has been done. It remains to be seen whether the Tigers think he could take down their Iron Bowl nemesis, Alabama," Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde wrote.
Truth be told, many Tiger fans would accept losing to Alabama if it at least meant beating teams like the Cal Golden Bears, Missouri Tigers, or New Mexico State Aggies.
The standard has fallen so far under Freeze that most fans would welcome Gus Malzahn back in a heartbeat, just years after saying he couldn't get over the hump.
One thing Malzahn did, three times as a head coach to be exact, was defeat the Tide. Now, the program is looking at hiring Franklin, who famously couldn't beat the Ohio State Buckeyes or Michigan Wolverines much while at State College, PA.
The mighty have fallen on the Plains, but Franklin is at least a step up from Freeze, if not a definitive step up from Malzahn.