Hugh Freeze has peaked with Auburn football at 6-6 thus far. Then, those 2023 Tigers lost in embarrassing fashion in the Music City Bowl to Maryland and went 5-7 in 2024 with unfathomable losses to Cal, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt.
If that's all Freeze could get to in Year 3, Saturday Down South's Connor O'Gara doesn't believe Freeze should Year 4.
"A 6-6 regular season in 2025 shouldn’t give Freeze a Year 4. It should instead give him an 8-figure buyout, albeit one that could be slightly less than his predecessors on The Plains," O'Gara wrote. "If Freeze can’t put together an 8-4 season in which he gets Auburn back to some sort of national relevance — something that Vegas doesn’t feel is that far-fetched with the 19th-best odds to win the national title on DraftKings — what would be redeemable about that 3-year stretch?"
O'Gara did share an interesting scenario where Year 4 would at least be on the table: Deuce Knight showing DJ Lagway-like promise.
"He’s not in the position of someone like Napier, who had the benefit of watching 5-star DJ Lagway emerge as a true freshman, which ultimately gave his head coach a longer leash. Well, not unless 5-star true freshman Deuce Knight climbs the depth chart and plays roughly half a season with plenty of dazzling plays like Lagway made," O'Gara wrote.
Freeze probably does have a Year 4 all but guaranteed. Maybe 6-6 doesn't cut it, but the Tigers are likely headed toward a 7-5 finish at worst with the roster Freeze has recruited.
Auburn paid DJ Durkin a lot not to lead a top defense. But ultimately, whether it's Knight or Jackson Arnold, some quarterback needs to provide the Tigers with competent play under center. This has been missing for nearly the entirety of Freeze's AU tenure thus far.