SEC Season Grades: Auburn Tigers
01/15/2025
Season in a sentence
Auburn better start winning soon or Hugh isn’t going to be the only four-letter word attached when “Freeze” is mentioned.
Three Highs
- The Texas A&M Game
Despite wins and losses, it’s always special to see Jordan-Hare Stadium be Jordan-Hare. The season itself was a disappointment but for one night in November, Auburn fans turned Jordan-Hare Stadium into a nightmare for a top-15 Texas A&M team and came away with a win in one of the best games of the year
- Freshman impact players becoming building blocks for the future
We knew Cam Coleman was special at wide receiver but defensive back Jay Crawford flourished into one of the best corners in the country as a true freshman. Crawford is just another star in a long line of stars from Parkview High School in Liburn, Ga., almost on par with their 2004 designated hitter and author of this article.
- The on-field losses did not impact the off-field wins
Freeze has recruited at a high level since the start of his tenure. However, so far his classes have resembled someone collecting expensive action figures. They look pretty and shiny on the shelf, but are you ever going to play with them?
Three Lows
- Fourth-straight losing season
Just like the Democratic party, Auburn hasn’t had a winning season since the COVID year.
- RedZone offense
Auburn finished dead last in the SEC in Red Zone Offense, scoring less than a pimple-faced Junior at a Mormon prom.
- Lost to Diego Pavia–again
Auburn finished this year with a second-straight loss to Diego Pavia at quarterback and allowed Vanderbilt to even their all-time series, 22-22-1. They join Sewanee as the only other SEC team who doesn’t have a winning record against the Commodores—and no, Texas doesn’t count.
The Offense
I was adamant prior to this season that Auburn would have one of the biggest turnarounds offensively of any team in the country. I even doubled-down on Auburn’s new wide receiver room, saying it would be the most improved unit in the country. Maybe I was a year early and 2025 will see those things come to fruition, but it was definitely not the case in 2024.
A lot of the blame for Auburn’s offense was pinned on quarterback Payton Thorne, and a lot of that was because of how vocal Hugh Freeze was about his signal caller’s shortcomings. Thorne wasn’t great, but he wasn’t the main problem. That would lie at Freeze’s feet and the inconsistencies in the red zone. Auburn finished the season ranked second in the SEC and ninth in the country in yards per play at 6.67, yet somehow ranked 12th in the league, scoring 28.3 points per game.
One of the more puzzling parts was watching Freeze scapegoating Thorne for their problems. He accomplished that with one of the most underrated running backs in the country, Jarquez Hunter, in the same backfield. Hunter led the SEC in yards per carry at 6.42, yet he had 20 carries or more in a game just three times this year. In fact, he was given 20 carries or more in a game just three times in his entire career at Auburn (49 games).
In those three games, Hunter averaged 187 yards and two touchdowns. So, if Thorne was the problem, buddy, did it ever seem like Hunter was the solution.
Offensive Grade: C-
The Defense
Auburn’s defense didn’t necessarily stand out statistically, but they finished in the top 31 nationally in rushing, scoring, and total defense. The Tigers failed to finish in the top five of the SEC in scoring, rushing, passing, or total defense, but were the primary reason Auburn was in most every game they played last season.
However, losing seven games this season definitely wasn’t on the defense. It was a unit that allowed over 400 yards just three times and over 30 points just twice.
Defensive Grade: B
Overall Grade
Hugh Freeze has been great at turning programs around and turning them around quickly. At Arkansas State, he won 10 games in his first season and that was at a program that hadn’t finished with a winning record since 1995. At Ole Miss, he got the Rebels bowl eligible and won three SEC games in Year One when they were 1-15 combined in SEC play the two seasons prior. Those are reasons to have expected a quick turnaround at Auburn.
I was wrong. After two seasons, Freeze is 11-14 at on the Plains. That’s two more losses than Bryan Harsin had in his two years as the man in charge. Freeze has been tremendous off the field, finishing with back-to-back top ten recruiting classes and a current top five portal class in the country. However, it has to translate on the field at some point.
Auburn has finished with a losing record for four consecutive seasons. Excluding Bryan Harsin, every Auburn head coach since Pat Dye has finished their third year either undefeated or with some form of title—divisional, conference, or national. Freeze is heading into year three in 2025. After two seasons, his performance has been about as uninspiring as his alibi during the NCAA investigation while he was at Ole Miss.
Overall Season Grade: C-
