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Hot seat watch for Payton Thorne as Tigers QB1, Hugh Freeze as Auburn football head coach

By Andrew Hughes

After Auburn football lost to Cal at home, are Payton Thorne and Hugh Freeze at risk of losing their jobs?
After Auburn football lost to Cal at home, are Payton Thorne and Hugh Freeze at risk of losing their jobs? / John Reed-Imagn Images
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Losing to Cal was a valley that Hugh Freeze's Auburn football program wasn't supposed to feel in what had been an exciting second season under his leadership; for an offseason and exactly one week of the 2024 season, anyway.

But here we all are, experiencing that valley. Auburn lost 21-14 and saw Payton Thorne throw four interceptions. It's as if the Tigers never recovered from a near-interception on the second play of the game that was taken back for a Cal touchdown but overturned. Auburn's offense was never in sync.

Does this disastrous result make the seats of Freeze and Thorne hot already? Week 3 against New Mexico is as good of a chance all season as the Tigers will get to reshuffle things after an unfathomable loss as a near-two-touchdown favorite.

Hugh Freeze isn't in trouble yet with Auburn football recruiting in such a good place

Freeze's job is secure. For now. Losing to Cal is not unforgivable, but it'll require some serious repentance to make this season anything resembling a success. A Week 2 loss from a projected ACC bottom-feeder is a tough hole to dig out of -- and given the way AU looked on offense, defense, and special teams, it's unrealistic to think this team can knock off Georgia or Alabama and make a run to the SEC Championship Game.

Luckily, Freeze's stellar track record on the recruiting trail should make John Cohen want to see his tenure through. Auburn still has a top-five 2025 class and top-rated 2026 class but those recruits will flip if the losing continues.

After two buyouts in two years from late 2020 to late 2022 for Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin, there's no rush to get rid of another head coach just yet.

Payton Thorne cannot be Auburn's starting quarterback any longer

Many Tiger fans knew deep down, based off what they've seen since September 2023, that Thorne was going to throw an interception on the final drive of the game with a chance to tie.

When it happened, it all but sealed Thorne's fate on the Plains. This experiment is never going to yield positive results, and at this point, Auburn should figure out if Hank Brown or Holden Geriner is worth considering to start or if QB is an urgent need for the 2025 class and/or the transfer portal.

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