Started By
Message
All trolling aside, what is missing from this Auburn team?
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:38 am
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:38 am
In the previous 5-6 seasons you could point to missing elements on the field that explained Auburn’s struggles.
First Hugh ignored recruiting offensive linemen and that lead to his demise.
Then Harsin came in and ignored recruiting all together and that lead to his demise and left Auburn trying to play in the SEC with Sun Belt Conference level talent.
Then Hugh came in with a gargantuan task of rebuilding the Auburn roster and put them back in a position where they could compete at the highest levels of the conference.
Years one and two were rough, but not unexpected. You can’t rebuild a SEC team overnight. But now we’re in year three. And from what I’ve seen, it appears Hugh has been successful in rebuilding the roster to a talent level to compete with a beat anyone. In the past two seasons under Hugh Freeze you could point to multiple areas on the field where it was obvious Auburn was simply overmatched. But that’s not the case this season as far as I can tell. Yeah, Arnold isn’t putting up numbers that are great. But we’ve seen enough from him to see he can be at least a serviceable quarterback. And our defense is among the best in the nation.
From what I’m seeing, Auburn has the talent to be sitting at 7-0 and in the hunt for another championship season. But instead they’re 3-4 and winless in the conference. I think the problem isn’t one of talent any longer. It’s coaching. Hugh Freeze has been highly successful at building a roster capable of beating anyone and contending for the playoffs. But he’s failed abysmally at doing anything with that talent.
Am I missing something? Or am I right that, even though Auburn now has the talent to go toe to toe with anyone, what they lack is coaching? If someone sees it differently, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
First Hugh ignored recruiting offensive linemen and that lead to his demise.
Then Harsin came in and ignored recruiting all together and that lead to his demise and left Auburn trying to play in the SEC with Sun Belt Conference level talent.
Then Hugh came in with a gargantuan task of rebuilding the Auburn roster and put them back in a position where they could compete at the highest levels of the conference.
Years one and two were rough, but not unexpected. You can’t rebuild a SEC team overnight. But now we’re in year three. And from what I’ve seen, it appears Hugh has been successful in rebuilding the roster to a talent level to compete with a beat anyone. In the past two seasons under Hugh Freeze you could point to multiple areas on the field where it was obvious Auburn was simply overmatched. But that’s not the case this season as far as I can tell. Yeah, Arnold isn’t putting up numbers that are great. But we’ve seen enough from him to see he can be at least a serviceable quarterback. And our defense is among the best in the nation.
From what I’m seeing, Auburn has the talent to be sitting at 7-0 and in the hunt for another championship season. But instead they’re 3-4 and winless in the conference. I think the problem isn’t one of talent any longer. It’s coaching. Hugh Freeze has been highly successful at building a roster capable of beating anyone and contending for the playoffs. But he’s failed abysmally at doing anything with that talent.
Am I missing something? Or am I right that, even though Auburn now has the talent to go toe to toe with anyone, what they lack is coaching? If someone sees it differently, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
45
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:40 am to Darth_Vader
A QB for one. A functioning offensive line for two. A play caller, third
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:41 am to Darth_Vader
Auburn chokes away more opportunities than another other progrum… and really it’s all sports
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:43 am to Darth_Vader
quote:FIFY. Malik Willis made the Liberty tape look a lot better than it was. NFL scouts said he had 1st round raw talent but zero understanding of offensive concepts and the right reads that go with that.
what they lack is offensive coaching?
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:44 am to Darth_Vader
Overall Talent isn’t the issue.
The offense is only as good as the QB and the playcalling.
The offense is only as good as the QB and the playcalling.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:46 am to Nasty_Canasta
quote:
A QB for one
Hugh's greatest failure imo. Bringing in Thorne, seeing what he could do for a season, and then rolling with him again the next season and getting identical results was terrible judgement, and probably ego that he could make it work. Then having a blank check to bring in a portal QB, and choosing... Jackson Arnold?
Functional QB play could have turned at least 50% of Auburn's losses over the past three years into wins. Any way you slice it, complete failure on Freeze's part for going with who he did.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:50 am to Darth_Vader
Honestly even Arky and a few other notoriously average squads have years where they almost win every game but end up with 5 losses. Auburn is finally settling in where they will probably be from here on out. Mid pack. Y’all might make the playoffs a couple times each decade(not looking good) but yall are not winning anymore championships. Just get comfortable is my absolute best advice.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:51 am to Darth_Vader
auburn football isn't nearly as important as auburn people want it to be. In the SEC, auburn isn't in the top half.
2025 3 4
2024 5 7
2023 6 7
2022 5 7
2021 6 7
2020 6 5
2025 3 4
2024 5 7
2023 6 7
2022 5 7
2021 6 7
2020 6 5
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:52 am to Mediocre
That defense is nasty.
The offense is awful. (The Missouri D is good, as well, though).
The offense is awful. (The Missouri D is good, as well, though).
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:55 am to Darth_Vader
Your receivers are your biggest problem. They can't catch and run terrible routes. Next is the kicker.
When the receivers couldn't catch, that leaves the defensive line to put as much pressure as they want on the QB and not be too concerned about the hurried throws that go for touchdowns. Your receivers is what made Mizzou's defensive line look so good as the game progressed.
When the receivers couldn't catch, that leaves the defensive line to put as much pressure as they want on the QB and not be too concerned about the hurried throws that go for touchdowns. Your receivers is what made Mizzou's defensive line look so good as the game progressed.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 11:58 am to Darth_Vader
A QB that can consistently make teams pay for trying to stop the run would help a lot. But Hugh has had multiple years now to bring someone in or develop someone to be that guy and hasn't.
I'm not talking about hitting occasional deep shots. I'm talking a guy runs a 6-7 yard out on first down and if the DBs play off the QB is going to hit it.
I'm not talking about hitting occasional deep shots. I'm talking a guy runs a 6-7 yard out on first down and if the DBs play off the QB is going to hit it.
This post was edited on 10/20/25 at 11:59 am
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:41 pm to Darth_Vader
Truth? Auburn this year is similar to what OU was last year. Really good defense and crappy offense. Difference is OU had a MASH unit last year from injuries and Aub is just bad on offense.
OU went out and got a real OC and portal QB. But a seasoned QB not a 5*+ bust. Brought in several portals for WR and Oline to build depth.
Honestly, if Auburn just fixes QB and Oline they will be able to compete. However, their coach made the errors in picking Arnold and that will likely cost his job.
People forget about their D. But any good D is exposed when O doesn’t move ball and D gets worn down. Fix the O and it fixes D by default.
OU went out and got a real OC and portal QB. But a seasoned QB not a 5*+ bust. Brought in several portals for WR and Oline to build depth.
Honestly, if Auburn just fixes QB and Oline they will be able to compete. However, their coach made the errors in picking Arnold and that will likely cost his job.
People forget about their D. But any good D is exposed when O doesn’t move ball and D gets worn down. Fix the O and it fixes D by default.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:42 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
In the previous 5-6 seasons you could point to missing elements on the field that explained Auburn’s struggles.
It’s pretty simple. Jackson Arnold is the least talented QB in the SEC. End of thread.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:44 pm to Darth_Vader
Patience. I know that’s unpopular but at some point this all evens out…. Everything has gone against us these past two seasons including a lot that is out of our control.
Injuries
Had our kicker not had a very rare, debilitating illness, I can count 2-3 more wins at least since last year.
Schedule
Had the schedule been arranged a bit differently, I don’t think we’d be panicking at the same level. Auburn has played 4 opponents in our first seven games who are ranked in this week’s Top 15. No other team in the league has had to face that, and the other 15 teams have averaged playing just 1.9 games so far against that Top 15.
Currently, SEC teams are a combined 6-24 against the current Top 15. Alabama has 3 of those wins (UGA, VAN, MIZ). Georgia has one (OM). Texas has one (OU). And A&M has one (ND). None of the other 12 teams have beat a current Top 15 opponent, so I’m not sure why Auburn is beating ourselves up over this.
Conversely, Auburn has not lost to any team outside the Top 15. Seven other teams in the SEC have. Auburn is one of the nine who has not.
Had the Kentucky game or the Arkansas game been sprinkled between these first four conference opponents, we likely wouldn’t be so pessimistic at the moment.
Officiating
Like it or not, a bad call cost us the OU game… to the point the conference had to make a rare, public apology. Whether people want to believe the call in the UGA game was a fumble or not, the vast majority of unbiased talking heads felt Auburn got screwed.
Whether or not these calls were correct or not is not the point… the point is that every major game-changing call has gone against Auburn this season, and it very well has cost us at least 1-2 games. Imagine had we not just not been screwed, but what would be our record if we had been the unfair beneficiary of a bad call that went our way?
At some point, these things average out.
Conclusion
I’m not enamored with Freeze. If someone can tell me who we will get as a replacement, I might could be completely open to parting ways. But what got Auburn into this 5-year mess is firing a coach (Gus) without a plan. Firing the replacement to the replacement again without a plan is not going to solve anything, and it will likely continue to make matters worse each time.
We’re a net -23 points combined during regulation against four Top 15 teams. You can complain about how the team has looked all you want, but if Auburn was really thst far off from being a good team, we wouldn’t be losing to the #3 team on the road by just 6 points… the #13 team on the road by just 7 points… the #5 team by just 10 points… and the #15 team in Double OT.
And that -23 points includes those bad calls.
I’d like to see Auburn fire the entire Offensive Staff. Force Freeze to give up playcalling duties. And use the extra money saved from a buyout to continue to shore up our OL and bring in another QB in the portal.
I think this is a better option compared to a complete program overhaul and reload.
Injuries
Had our kicker not had a very rare, debilitating illness, I can count 2-3 more wins at least since last year.
Schedule
Had the schedule been arranged a bit differently, I don’t think we’d be panicking at the same level. Auburn has played 4 opponents in our first seven games who are ranked in this week’s Top 15. No other team in the league has had to face that, and the other 15 teams have averaged playing just 1.9 games so far against that Top 15.
Currently, SEC teams are a combined 6-24 against the current Top 15. Alabama has 3 of those wins (UGA, VAN, MIZ). Georgia has one (OM). Texas has one (OU). And A&M has one (ND). None of the other 12 teams have beat a current Top 15 opponent, so I’m not sure why Auburn is beating ourselves up over this.
Conversely, Auburn has not lost to any team outside the Top 15. Seven other teams in the SEC have. Auburn is one of the nine who has not.
Had the Kentucky game or the Arkansas game been sprinkled between these first four conference opponents, we likely wouldn’t be so pessimistic at the moment.
Officiating
Like it or not, a bad call cost us the OU game… to the point the conference had to make a rare, public apology. Whether people want to believe the call in the UGA game was a fumble or not, the vast majority of unbiased talking heads felt Auburn got screwed.
Whether or not these calls were correct or not is not the point… the point is that every major game-changing call has gone against Auburn this season, and it very well has cost us at least 1-2 games. Imagine had we not just not been screwed, but what would be our record if we had been the unfair beneficiary of a bad call that went our way?
At some point, these things average out.
Conclusion
I’m not enamored with Freeze. If someone can tell me who we will get as a replacement, I might could be completely open to parting ways. But what got Auburn into this 5-year mess is firing a coach (Gus) without a plan. Firing the replacement to the replacement again without a plan is not going to solve anything, and it will likely continue to make matters worse each time.
We’re a net -23 points combined during regulation against four Top 15 teams. You can complain about how the team has looked all you want, but if Auburn was really thst far off from being a good team, we wouldn’t be losing to the #3 team on the road by just 6 points… the #13 team on the road by just 7 points… the #5 team by just 10 points… and the #15 team in Double OT.
And that -23 points includes those bad calls.
I’d like to see Auburn fire the entire Offensive Staff. Force Freeze to give up playcalling duties. And use the extra money saved from a buyout to continue to shore up our OL and bring in another QB in the portal.
I think this is a better option compared to a complete program overhaul and reload.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:44 pm to Darth_Vader
Freeze.
You dont play false preacher and not have serious repercussions.
He runs a high school offense too.
You dont play false preacher and not have serious repercussions.
He runs a high school offense too.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:49 pm to AUTiger789
quote:You're missing the part where you have to convince a good OC to come in knowing 1) he has to trust that Freeze won't interfere in his business, and 2) he's a few losses away from being canned along with the entire staff.
I’d like to see Auburn fire the entire Offensive Staff. Force Freeze to give up playcalling duties. And use the extra money saved from a buyout to continue to shore up our OL and bring in another QB in the portal.
I think this is a better option compared to a complete program overhaul and reload.
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:50 pm to Darth_Vader
Hookers??
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:50 pm to OU Guy
quote:
OU went out and got a real OC and portal QB.
Offense still kinda sucks tho
Posted on 10/20/25 at 12:50 pm to NickPapageorgio
quote:
Freeze
He’d be fine if they let him have hookers again. Lol
Page 1 of 5
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News