re: Third's Hella-Early Top 25 for 2025

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You mean our 11 games won in the past 2 years?


Yea, we saw them. LOL.

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Ok cool... Which game did Hugh throw a pick in the end zone or fumble inside the 5? Lol
Because I may have missed that one

Our talent has become more formidable each year he has been here. Progression in expectations is the only thing that is happening here.

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I don't think Hugh was a bad gameday coach... sure we wanted more running from Cowboy, but he ran for almost 1300 yds. Top 5 passer, 2 Top 10 receivers, a top 2 rusher.

Hugh didn't fumble or throw a single pick.

Clock management wise... we had a 5-6th year Sr that throws a pass inbounds or takes a sack when's not supposed to, or throws a pass on a RPO when he could just hand it off... again.. not all on Hugh.

But I get it, results based business.

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Your points here are laughably simplistic and lacking any sort of nuance.

#1) Hugh Freeze's QB's have committed an above average number of turnovers in basically every season of his career. You can look this up yourself. Since we are talking multiple different QB's at multiple different schools, the reason for this can not simply be outright "bad luck". Have you considered that the offense that he chooses to run could inherently lead to more turnovers? Saying "yeah well he didn't throw the interception himself so it has nothing to do with him" is idiotic. Putting a QB in an inherently high-risk position is going to lead to a higher likelihood of that risk going against you. Every play that you call has a risk/reward ratio dependent on the situation that it is called in.

On the flipside, Gus Malzahn's QB's barely committed any turnovers while he has here, primarily due to his limited offense. If all you ever call are runs, screen-passes, and bombs deep down the field along the sideline, you inherently present little opportunity for the QB to be picked off. Most interceptions come when you ask the QB to throw down the middle of the field into traffic, and Malzahn's offense famously did very little of that.

I can give you the perfect example: Freeze had the lead against late against Oklahoma, and instead of handing the ball to his RB he goes 5-wide with nobody in the backfield to protect Thorne on 3rd down and asks him to pass. The OT gets absolutely abused and Thorne rushes a throw (due to pressure) which the LB picks off and returns for a TD. Under your logic, Freeze "didn't throw the interception". But was that the correct play to call given not only the situation in the game (you have the lead), but also the talent limitation at both OT and QB? This isn't Madden, you can't just say that Thorne should have sensed the pressure and done something smarter. He was actually baited by the defense into making the throw, because Venables clearly read the play and was prepared. So both the QB and OT made a mistake, but the play itself was flawed and foolish from the get-go. This team's OL has not proven to be able to block without extra help in pivotal situations for the entirety of Freeze's time here; thus don't you think it would be stupid to expect them to not fail in that scenario against a good Oklahoma defense?

#2) "Clock management wise... we had a 5-6th year Sr that throws a pass inbounds or takes a sack when's not supposed to" - Again, this is the same as above and a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened. Auburn had two catastrophic blown FG attempts this past season (trying to sprint the FG unit on to the field as the clock is running). Both of which were the direct result of timeouts being wasted in stupid fashion, and then inexplicable plays being called with no time outs in moments of the game where the clock has your nuts in a vice-grip. For this to happen twice in a season is nothing other than coaching failure. There are coaches who go 4+ seasons at a school without something like that happening even once.

Also, I love the casual "the QB takes a sack when he's not supposed to" rhetoric. When is a QB ever supposed to take a sack? Are sacks easily avoidable? If they are, then why does anyone ever get sacked in the first place? Why doesn't every QB simply just safely get rid of the football? But even if your QB takes more "bad sacks" than normal; shouldn't that prompt you to rethink your offense and call plays that make it less likely for this to occur? So using this as a scapegoat excuse for the HC who took over play calling is stupid in and of itself.

If you truly believe that Thorne alone was responsible for all of the sacks; why are we then spending 7-figures to bring the VTech transfer LT here? You are silently proclaiming that the OL did its job; in which case they shouldn't have needed to go out and target so many transfers. But they did. Why?

I fully support you here but still think Freeze doesnt have tocall herculean games for us to finish in the top 25.

Jackson Arnold, Cam Coleman, Young Malcolm, and the GT guy are all about to start lighting up that scoreboard.

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Your points here are laughably simplistic and lacking any sort of nuance.

#1) Hugh Freeze's QB's have committed an above average number of turnovers in basically every season of his career. You can look this up yourself. Since we are talking multiple different QB's at multiple different schools, the reason for this can not simply be outright "bad luck". Have you considered that the offense that he chooses to run could inherently lead to more turnovers? Saying "yeah well he didn't throw the interception himself so it has nothing to do with him" is idiotic. Putting a QB in an inherently high-risk position is going to lead to a higher likelihood of that risk going against you. Every play that you call has a risk/reward ratio dependent on the situation that it is called in.

On the flipside, Gus Malzahn's QB's barely committed any turnovers while he has here, primarily due to his limited offense. If all you ever call are runs, screen-passes, and bombs deep down the field along the sideline, you inherently present little opportunity for the QB to be picked off. Most interceptions come when you ask the QB to throw down the middle of the field into traffic, and Malzahn's offense famously did very little of that.

I can give you the perfect example: Freeze had the lead against late against Oklahoma, and instead of handing the ball to his RB he goes 5-wide with nobody in the backfield to protect Thorne on 3rd down and asks him to pass. The OT gets absolutely abused and Thorne rushes a throw (due to pressure) which the LB picks off and returns for a TD. Under your logic, Freeze "didn't throw the interception". But was that the correct play to call given not only the situation in the game (you have the lead), but also the talent limitation at both OT and QB? This isn't Madden, you can't just say that Thorne should have sensed the pressure and done something smarter. He was actually baited by the defense into making the throw, because Venables clearly read the play and was prepared. So both the QB and OT made a mistake, but the play itself was flawed and foolish from the get-go. This team's OL has not proven to be able to block without extra help in pivotal situations for the entirety of Freeze's time here; thus don't you think it would be stupid to expect them to not fail in that scenario against a good Oklahoma defense?

#2) "Clock management wise... we had a 5-6th year Sr that throws a pass inbounds or takes a sack when's not supposed to" - Again, this is the same as above and a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened. Auburn had two catastrophic blown FG attempts this past season (trying to sprint the FG unit on to the field as the clock is running). Both of which were the direct result of timeouts being wasted in stupid fashion, and then inexplicable plays being called with no time outs in moments of the game where the clock has your nuts in a vice-grip. For this to happen twice in a season is nothing other than coaching failure. There are coaches who go 4+ seasons at a school without something like that happening even once.

Also, I love the casual "the QB takes a sack when he's not supposed to" rhetoric. When is a QB ever supposed to take a sack? Are sacks easily avoidable? If they are, then why does anyone ever get sacked in the first place? Why doesn't every QB simply just safely get rid of the football? But even if your QB takes more "bad sacks" than normal; shouldn't that prompt you to rethink your offense and call plays that make it less likely for this to occur? So using this as a scapegoat excuse for the HC who took over play calling is stupid in and of itself.

If you truly believe that Thorne alone was responsible for all of the sacks; why are we then spending 7-figures to bring the VTech transfer LT here? You are silently proclaiming that the OL did its job; in which case they shouldn't have needed to go out and target so many transfers. But they did. Why?

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I'll be honest, I'm not reading all that shite lol

So just see this. AND MAKE YOUR OWN POLL if you disagree. My statement isn't far fetched. Top 25 is feasible, and Auburn is in the top 20 as far as odds to win the natty.

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I feel better QB, replaced Percy Lewis with a pro prospect. Added more talent and depth to the OLine. Replaced KLS with Singleton, best WR in the portal. Didn't lose any transfers of consequence. Added a great class on top of a great 2024 class that PRODUCED. Won 5 games that could HONESTLY have been 8-9

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Ok cool... Which game did Hugh throw a pick in the end zone or fumble inside the 5? Lol
Because I may have missed that one

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You think losing to Mexico state was not a coaching failure? Do you think 4th and 31 was not a coaching failure? Dude there have been so many coaching failures by him in just his first two years.


I am just wondering what Coach Freeze has done in the past two years that make you think he is all the sudden going to field and coach a team to be ranked? Dude has been absolutely horrible the past two years.


I just dont understand the thinking with this and I never will. I am going to ask you the same question you asked me. Did you actually watch any of the games this year? And I know you did.


You have to have a reason to think that he is all the sudden going to be a better coach

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So what am I missing here? ?

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You are what your record is.

No way around that.

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Nobody should be surprised by that ranking. In fact everyone should expect it.

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Exactly

As a matter of fact under Gus it was the roster that always led Auburn to preseason top 15 rankings, not Gus's 5 losses per year.

As we get more players then ranking will be a certainty.

Now do the OL …

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Explain Bruce's first three years here.

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People didn't have high expectations of that program but had hope. And no portal or legally pay players or get money by directing them to agents & he couldn't recruit until the beginning of the school year. He did appear on ESPN though. Many people were ok with the hire of Bruce

Football on the other hand, with the advent of the Portal & now legally able to pay players, there is a short attention span when you see teams like Miami go out and get players especially QBs. Hugh was not the consensus hire when there were others out there that some thought would do much better here.

So we are in Year 3 and it is time for him to put up or get the hell out of dodge.