Viral Hugh Freeze snub a slap in the face to Auburn football fans

Bama Hammer's Ronald Evans called a spade a spade -- Big Game Boomer excluding Hugh Freeze from a recent criteria-less top 50 head coaches list is a blatant slap in the face to Auburn football fans.

"...the Top 50 list prompts an interesting point," Evans prefaced before saying, "In the Top 50 are seven former members of Nick Saban's Alabama coaching tree; plus current head coach, Kalen DeBoer. All of the top five are in some way 'Bama Guys'. Hugh Freeze is not included in the Top 50 list. Gus Malzahn is at No. 30, along with former Auburn Offensive Coordinator, Rhett Lashlee at No. 44.

"Along with the eight head coaches with Alabama connections (nine if Dabo is counted), there are six more SEC head coaches in the Top 50. Ten current SEC head coaches made the list. Even if Freeze was ranked as the SEC's 11th-best, that is a hard slap to the face of Auburn fans. Making the slap more painful is that Auburn hired Liberty's head coach, and while Freeze did not make the Top 50 cut, Liberty's replacement for Hugh, Jamey Chadwell did; at No. 24."

Without understanding the criteria -- perhaps BGB is heavy on the recency bias and is thinking about the three straight losses to New Mexico State (by 21), Alabama, and Maryland (by 18) or is judging Freeze by his and AU's expectations not being met -- it's hard not to get too angry. It's essentially an opinionated spreadsheet at the end of the day.

But it's notable that Freeze and Auburn are being disrespected so much before the season.

Hugh Freeze will either be a surprise or a hot seat candidate in national media's eyes

Freeze is being set up to be one of the 2024 season's biggest surprises or the next big name to be put on the hotseat by the national media. It doesn't look like there will be any middle ground.

Auburn fans were always willing to point out Freeze bringing Ole Miss to its most prosperous years in the modern era and singlehandedly building Liberty into a Group of 5 powerhouse, but his troublesome past had national talking heads hesitant to give him any credit. It won't be a surprise to them if/when the Tigers outperform expectations.

On the flipside, though, most AU fans won't want to see Freeze removed if he has another middling season. The national media will be circling like sharks to push him onto the hot seat if the Tigers underperform.