Given the instability at quarterback, Oklahoma reporters Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia of Sooner Scoop are unsure of what to anticipate from Hugh Freeze’s Auburn football team in 2024.
“We don’t know what to make of Auburn, but it’s huge,” Stoia remarked. “I believe they’ll be really solid defensively and all around because of the quarterback situation there and their second year under Hugh Freeze. That’s a big one, then.
The biggest unknown on Auburn’s roster is Payton Thorne. Should he exhibit glimpses of the Michigan State team from 2021, the Tigers might secure a low-seeded College Football Playoff spot. Should this version of the team resemble the one from 2023, he may be benched, and the three quarterbacks after him have no combined starts.
In the end, Stoia dismissed AU, saying that the Sooners’ season might be made or broken by their games against Ole Miss and Mizzou. Texas, Alabama, and LSU were considered probable defeats; the Sooner Scoop writers practically counted the Longhorns as a defeat on OU’s schedule.
Hugh Freeze cannot remain off the hot seat if Auburn football is allowed to be a doormat.
Due to his recruitment, Freeze has increased expectations, thus if Auburn doesn’t improve from a 6-7 season in year one, he could end up with one of the best chairs in the SEC by 2025.
Freeze is ranked No. 11 in the On3 2024 SEC Head Coach Pressure Rankings, but that is based on the assumption of a seven- or eight-win year. Either avoids discussing how dangerous his profession may be.
Auburn will soon stop receiving payouts from Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin, thus they probably want to avoid another buyout in favor of saving money on NIL expenses. However, the fans are impatient and expect greatness, so a dismal Freeze run would likely cause more personal grief than Harsin’s failure.
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