2025 GAME 6 REVIEW: A Tale of Two Halves

Georgia 20 Auburn 10.  This is a tough one.  In fact, one of the worst in this decade, and that is saying something.  There are a lot of different factors to this game that have to be looked at.  They all came together to form another gut wrenching loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.  I sit here and shake my head as I write this.  The record is now three wins in twenty one years against Georgia.  The best rivalry in college football that twenty years ago had the series record exactly even.  Heck even the points scored by both teams were exactly even!  Since that point in time this rivalry has digressed to a point that College Gameday does not even bother picking it.  I am not even sure what kind of rivalry it is anymore since Georgia wins every time.  This one though was worse than usual because of...

THE OFFICIATING

The bias against Auburn by SEC officials is an absolute fact.  Review the games.  This is not a homer fan just complaining about a few calls.  This is now gotten to a point that to win a game Auburn does not have to just beat the other team but they will have to overcome multiple egregiously bad calls.  I mean it has gotten so bad that I actually did not get as upset as many people last night because I just expect it now.  Let us start with the actual worst call of the night even though it was not as crucial...  Kirby Smart came running down the sidelines in the second half clearly calling a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty... and then somehow successfully argued he was just clapping and was awarded an actual "redo" of the play and did not lose a time out (?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????????????).  In fifty years of watching football I have never seen anything like that.  

I will save the "The Fumble" for last so the next call was the targeting call on Kaylin Lee helping Georgia's drive at the end of the first half.  Here is the problem with that call...  first lets say yes it was close and it is a judgement call but it could be called targeting so call it there.  HOWEVER when a Georgia player leads with his helmet later you absolutely have to call that.  They did not.  In that case you should not have called it either time.  On the one against Auburn you could clearly see that Lee was trying to hit Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton with his shoulder but Stockton lowered his head.  On the same theme they called a key pass interference penalty on Rayshawn Pleasant where yes he grabbed him a bit but they did not call it on Georgia for doing the same thing.  Again you have to be consistent.

Finally, we have the fumble.  All I can say is that if the same thing happened to Bama, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, etc... that call would have been overturned and it would have been called a touchdown.  That is not an opinion but an absolute fact and no matter what your allegiance is you know it is true.  What is the point of instant replay if that is not a touchdown?  I mean a touchdown after a clear catch and fumble was taken away from Auburn at Oklahoma (the same type play was called a catch for Oklahoma later in game), Oklahoma was allowed to score a touchdown on a clear illegal play that the SEC admitted was so after the game.  Auburn now in this game had another touchdown taken away with this "fumble" even though something was clear on instant replay.  Those calls all gave or took away touchdowns.  

It sure seems like there is a clear directive to SEC refs that all critical close calls go to the other team no matter what (Auburn still gets some calls just none of the critical ones).  I mean if commissioner Greg Sankey did not want Hugh Freeze back in the SEC this bad I wish he would have just officially banned him rather than punishing the players and fans like this.  I know that is going deep "conspiracy theory" but when things have gotten this bad I am not sure what else to think.  Again if you think Auburn fans are crazy just imagine the calls I am talking about going against the teams I listed...  You know it would NEVER happen.  HOWEVER just like I did after the Oklahoma game I am still going to put more blame on...

THE COACHING

I said after Oklahoma executed the clearly illegal "hideout" play for a touchdown that yes as the SEC admitted afterward was as bad a call as you could make BUT if Auburn would not have screwed up the snap on a punt and given the ball to Oklahoma in scoring range I don't think they can run that play. A botched punt is bad coaching.  In the same vein, if Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold does not fumble the ball Auburn gets the touchdown or another chance and the refs are not allowed to make a judgement.  The bigger thing for me is you cannot fumble that ball there.  You have to take care of the things you can control and Auburn so much of the time under head coach Hugh Freeze have not and this is just another example.  You simply cannot fumble the ball there.

Auburn coaches and fans, including me, can complain about the officiating but like the Oklahoma game there were plenty of chances to win this game even considering the bad calls.  Everyone talks about the fumble but almost as big as the fumble play was Auburn's second drive of the game.  First though let me say kudos to the Auburn fans and students at this game, the place was deafening to start.  It came through just watching it on TV.  The team also came out with a lot of energy as well plus even more spurred on by the incredible crowd.  Auburn jumped all over Georgia scoring a touchdown on an impressive seven minute 75 yard drive.  The defense then stopped Georgia and Auburn got the ball back still on a high.  The offense then took off on a five minute drive to 2nd and 2 at the Georgia six yard line. 

THIS IS WHERE YOU WIN THE GAME.  This is well before the fumble.  Auburn had all the momentum and...  Damari Alston is stuffed for a four yard loss.  Auburn then gets one more chance to capitalize on this unbelievable start and momentum.  This is where you pull that special play you have up your sleeve that you have worked on the last two weeks for just this occasion!!!  That is what good coaches do but Hugh Freeze instead just ran Alston again and settled for the field goal.  There have been many such situations the last three seasons and this coaching staff has failed in all of them against good teams other than one game against Texas A&M.  However since Auburn is now 1-11 against ranked teams under Freeze I think we can safely call that game the exception to the rule.  

This all really began with not being able to stop a team on 4th and 31 to get an historically great win.  Auburn should be able to stop the Kansas City Chiefs on 4th and 31.  It started with that and Auburn under Hugh Freeze has continued to find ways to lose in just about every big game since then.  Of course after the fumble we got to see another staple of having Hugh Freeze as coach and that is his absolutely unacceptable moping and body language when things get tough.  I know as a coach at any level you have to exude confidence ESPECIALLY WHEN THINGS GET TOUGH.  The head coach is the leader and if he is out there looking like Freeze the team cannot win.  It is completely unacceptable and I cannot believe that he continues to do it.  The offense then only had 14 total yards in the entire second half till the last failed drive which pushed that total to only 40.  I mean that is beyond bad.

Finally, once again I have to point out like I have done all season and summarized in my last post...  Auburn cannot pass the ball.  Auburn cannot pass the ball.  Auburn cannot pass the ball.  Auburn probably would have won last night if Arnold doesn't fumble the ball capitalizing on great team and crowd energy but while those first few drives were successful last night they were certainly not a blueprint for continued success.  I think it was more about great energy and effort.  Those plays were all Gus Malzahn staples.  The passes were short swings or hitches.  There was NO DOWNFIELD PASSING.  Once the script ran out and things got tough Auburn like the last two games was COMPLETELY HELPLESS because they CAN... NOT... PASS... THE... BALL.  

Auburn has some great wide receivers but terrible coaching and nothing at quarterback.  I cannot even imagine how frustrated the Tiger wide receivers are.  What does a real passing game look like?  Just look at Auburn's biggest rivals this season.  Bama and Georgia are certainly not the juggernauts they have been.  That was plain to see as Georgia was absolutely there for the taking last night with Auburn's hot start.  Bama has also obviously struggled at times as well BUT both teams have the coaching where they can call an actual passing play where the quarterback drops back in the pocket, makes a read, and then delivers a down-the-field pass.  Regardless of the officiating, Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton had to drop back and hit some key down-the-field passes to win last night.  Bama quarterback Ty Simpson had to do the same yesterday at Missouri.  

Auburn under Hugh Freeze simply cannot do it.  They cannot call an actual passing play where the quarterback drops back in the pocket, makes a read, and then delivers a down-the-field pass.  They coaching is not there and Jackson Arnold cannot do it any way.  All the good starts like last night and running all over Baylor to start the season are not going to change the fact that a team can NOT win big games without being able to successfully execute passing plays like that.  I summed all of this up in my last post.  I have wrote about it win or lose every single game of this season.  It has been over 15 years of this bull**** as it started with Gus Malzahn and has continued under Hugh Freeze.  I am so sick of watching this stupid high school offense that I cannot adequately describe it anymore.  

I mean there is no question now, Hugh Freeze needs to go.  I know that no one at Auburn wants to start over again but it is what it is.  Auburn is not going to magically start being successful under Hugh Freeze.  He might luck up and win a big game here or there like he almost did last night but there will be no long-term success under this guy.  I believe this has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt now.  He has also screwed up bad enough that even offering big sums of money it is going to be hard to talk big-time recruits or transfers into playing in this offense.  They can get good money and play in better offenses elsewhere.  He had his chance and he squandered it.  Auburn needs to get started as soon as possible because dragging this out and hoping Hugh Freeze turns it around will make things worse. 

However as we all know the big problem then becomes screwing up the next hire.  I hold our ex-Mississippi State baseball coach athletic director in just as low regard as I hold Hugh Freeze.  He made two terrible head football coaching hires at State plus he hired Freeze so why should I think he will do nothing but make ANOTHER BAD HIRE??????  That will make things even worse.  Also if we hire another Gus Malzahn disciple like Eli Drinkwitz or Rhett Lashlee I am officially retiring from watching Auburn football till they are gone and you will not have to suffer through reading my posts anymore.  I cannot watch years more of Gus Malzahn offenses which both of these teams run.  Missouri is doing a lot better than Auburn but when things got tough yesterday they also cannot pass the ball effectively.

I am sure though Missouri will look better next week playing a battered and dejected Auburn team coming off this most painful of losses led by Hugh Freeze...  The only question probably left in this Auburn season is how bad is it going to get?  However I guess there is still a small chance Freeze gets a few wins and buys himself more time.  I think the issue is settled but I know the Auburn administration will do anything to put off this tough decision.  Auburn now plays four teams that are not as good as the three they just lost to.  I did say earlier this season I thought it would come down to these next four games however I had no idea these last three losses would be this bad.  

2025 GAME 5 REVIEW: STANDARD PROTOCOL

Texas A&M 16  Auburn 10 (Auburn offense really only had three points).  Welp... if you are really surprised at what happened yesterday you are not paying attention or you are burying your head in the sand.  I have written it here every week...

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AFTER BAYLOR WIN: "Auburn barely managed 100 yards passing with massively hyped returning wide receivers Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons only getting one catch each.  Monster wide receiver signee Eric Singleton got three but had twenty yards...  I mean yes I am very glad Auburn did what it had to do to win the game but the passing game is still a flashing red light.

Quarterback Jackson Arnold did not look comfortable in the pocket. I think he should have been better.  Most of us have watched enough football that even if a quarterback is having a bad game you can see if he is brave in the pocket, if he throws a nice ball, etc...  I did not see any of that with Arnold.  I also think that his success running in this game will encourage the bad habit of running every time he feels pressure.  I see better SEC teams shutting down most of his running.  Also why have we carried on and on and on and paid so much money for all of these wide receivers to not have a passing game good enough against BAYLOR to get them the ball?

The answer appears to be the same as it has been the last decade at Auburn.  Our head coach is an ex-high school coach who is a good salesman and sermonizer but simply does not have the ability to teach or implement modern football passing concepts."  

 AFTER BALL STATE WIN (a 42-3 blowout): "However while the stat line looked good for the offense I think everyone who watched the game noticed some issues. The offense was just not sharp on several drives in the first half. There is still just something wrong with this offense. I think some of the issues are Jackson Arnold. He looks like a baseball thrower to me that does not have a lot of touch but I think it is more coaching. I have the same questions I had last week, how can Auburn being in the second year with this coaching staff and this offense not look sharper? Auburn has massively upgraded at all positions and their talent is showing through but there is still something wrong with this offense.

AFTER SOUTH ALABAMA WIN: "Next up I will just repeat again what I have in the last two posts...  Auburn's passing game is just not clicking on all cylinders... You have to have the coaching and Auburn appears to be drastically lacking there.  Auburn's very expensive high rated wide receivers not only dropped several yesterday but either they or Jackson Arnold are doing something wrong since he won't pull the trigger many times...

The offense just looks like an old high school offense passing-wise and Jackson Arnold is just not getting the coaching to pass successfully.  Auburn is a better team than the last four years but with these issues in the passing game I just am not sure how successful this team will be in a tougher-than-ever SEC. 

I hope I am just being "negative", I hope Hugh Freeze and this Auburn team prove me wrong however I think most of us have watched good teams and they look like good teams in most all their games.  I think most of us have seen well-coached passing offenses and this just does not appear to be one.  Most of all this coaching staff has just not shown the mettle to win big games.  Let me repeat that, this coaching staff has just not shown the mettle to win big games.  That does not bode well for next week nor the season.  Please prove me wrong (NOTE: HE HAS NOT).

AFTER OKLAHOMA LOSS: "I will also point out AGAIN as I have the LAST THREE WEEKS that Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold continues to hold the ball too long much of the time.  That is coaching.  I think everyone watching is seeing this.  This all leads to what I have felt all week and that is a COMPLETE LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN THIS COACHING STAFF.

After this disaster against a very overrated Oklahoma team I just do not think this coaching staff is capable of leading Auburn to an upset over a really good team, EVER. Texas A&M is now up next... I think the Aggies are better than Oklahoma this season and it is on the road so that pretty much guarantees it is out of a Hugh Freeze-coached team's reach.  Like this week and pretty much any week under Freeze I have absolutely zero confidence that Auburn can show up and just play good solid well-coached football. "

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Freeze won at Ole Miss a decade ago when the rules were different and you could run your subs in and hike the ball as fast as you can.  Simple high school plays worked many times in that scenario.  As soon as the rules were changed Hugh Freeze has been a complete loser in the SEC at both Ole Miss and Auburn.  He had some good seasons at Liberty but it is not even worth discussing, it is not the SEC.  I  do wonder how he even won those games because at Auburn he does not display any understanding of just basic football strategy.  This was on full display yesterday as he did not abandon the running game, HE NEVER USED IT AT ALL.  He has done that to one extent or another since he got to Auburn when it is patently obvious Auburn does not have near the tools to only pass the ball.

Auburn Nation, the simple fact is that Hugh Freeze is not a good coach.  I believe that has been proven as fact.  It does not matter anymore if you are a good recruiter if you cannot coach.  Your impact players will all leave.  Obviously the inverse is true as well, you cannot be a good coach that cannot recruit either.  Auburn football is bad now because Auburn has hired two bad football coaches in a row.  It is as simple as that.  Auburn's last major win was beating Bama in 2019.  Gus struggled through 2020 and was headed down, he had to be replaced.  Auburn's mistake was not in firing Gus as many are saying but in who they replaced him with.  Auburn's inept administrations have been as bad as the football coaches they have hired.  That has led us to FOUR STRAIGHT LOSING SEASONS with a possible fifth looming now.  

However I actually think Auburn will still have a winning season.  Auburn does have better talent, you just cannot see it with this coaching.  I think Auburn will win enough games so our weak administration will bring back Hugh Freeze, and we will have to suffer through another season of this.  Auburn will lose to Georgia and Bama while they will win against Mercer.  That puts the team at 4-4.  The season comes down to Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt.  Mizzou and Vandy are ranked but they are not powerhouses.  Auburn even with this coaching will look a lot better against these teams because I do not think they have the defensive coaching or the pass rush to shut down Auburn down like the last two weeks, even considering how poorly coached Auburn is.

This is the new normal at Auburn people and frankly we have been here for awhile.  Gus was the same as this except he would beat the four weaker SEC teams I list above and he would finish 8-4 in these seasons and then lose his bowl game.  Gus was not much more competitive against good teams.  Gus Malzahn never won on the road from 2013 through 2020 against LSU, Georgia, or Bama.  The common denominator is weak offensive lines and passing games.  The reason Gus was a step better than Freeze is he would run the ball.  Auburn is simply not going to beat good teams on the road or really good teams anywhere anymore.  That is a simple fact that has been true for awhile.  

This is Auburn football now and with the entire college football system changing there will be no more automatic rebounds for Auburn.  Auburn counted on always rebounding with a good team for over 50 years and too many Auburn fans think that is still going to happen.  Sadly I hate to tell you, it is not.  The only way out is to have solid smart people in the administration and board that hire a competent football coach that actually performs rather than conning his way into the job just to get the multi-million dollar buyout and then is actually glad when he gets fired.  I tell you ex-Auburn football coaches have been laughing on the way to the bank for way too long.  This is like pro football now, you do not luck into being good.  

Looking ahead...  Auburn is going to get beat by Georgia.  As I also said in an earlier post before either of the last two losses, Auburn will also probably "look better" losing to Georgia.  I mean it won't matter because it is still a loss but some people will be swayed again.  Auburn will then hit those four conference games I list above and again I do not think they have the defensive coaching or pass rush to shut down even a badly coached Auburn offense so I think Auburn will win some of those games.  The Auburn fan base needs to look forward to those games it seems.  I mean you either stop watching the games or you just look forward to those type games now.  That is what you do when you are a bottom half SEC program.  Auburn football is now a bottom half SEC program. 

2025 GAME 4 REVIEW: INCOMPETENCE ALL OVER

Oklahoma 24  Auburn 17.  I wonder if Auburn will ever win a big road game or any big game frankly ever again.  I mean Hugh Freeze's incompetent head coaching is bad enough but when the refs incompetence appears to be even worse than his what is the point???  The level of factual incompetence by the refs in this game is unbelievable.  That is not an opinion but of course nobody cares.  Auburn and their fans won't bring enough heat so they will continue to get screwed.  Meanwhile it is an ABSOLUTE 100% FACT, there is no way that Auburn's fumble return for a touchdown would be overturned if they had been BAMA, GEORGIA, LSU, OR TEXAS.  Heck if it would have been Oklahoma they would not have overturned it. 

Next, there is no way that Oklahoma's blatant cheating "pass to the guy who pretended to run off the field" play would have stood against BAMA, GEORGIA, LSU OR TEXAS but nobody cares about the rest of the schools getting screwed by these incompetent refs. 

I mean just GOOGLE IT...  

"In NCAA football, passing to a player who is pretending to sub off is considered a deception using the substitution process and results in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The rules are designed to prevent "hide-out" plays that use fake or pretended substitutions to gain an unfair advantage."  

 There is absolutely NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY that play should have ever been allowed to stand.  This particular play and call prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the refs in this game today are COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT.  There was plenty more of normal SEC ref incompetence on top of all that like blatant pass interference not being called and oceans of holding calls on both sides.  The games are almost unwatchable the reffing is SO BAD.  Unless you are a blue blood like the four schools mentioned above you will get screwed and nobody will care or do anything about it.  

However there is one set of calls the refs did get right and show the incompetence on the coaching side and those were the ILLEGAL PROCEDURE calls and Auburn had plenty, many at critical times.  That is just the tip of the iceberg for Auburn's offense.  Anyone who reads my stuff might think I am negative but everything I have written about Auburn's passing game in my last three posts was proved COMPLETELY TRUE tonight.  I wish I was wrong.  I wish Hugh Freeze was not such a poor coach.  However he is unfortunately.  I mean for every single good play Auburn had there were way more bad calls, poor execution, and HORRIBLY TIMED PROCEDURE PENALTIES.

Throw in Auburn's BOTTOM OF THE CONFERENCE SPECIAL TEAMS and you have your typical Hugh Freeze loss.  I mean Auburn's special teams gaffes in this one were almost comical.  It seemed like there were holding calls or blocks in the back on I think all of Auburn's kickoff returns which had the offense starting off in a hole multiple times.  There was also the punt that was fielded at the two yard line???!!!???  There was the standard Hugh Freeze team critical missed field goal (add to this fact he knew his main kicker was very sick and did not do enough in the transfer portal this past offseason).  The absolute topper in this game though was the early botched punt that gave Oklahoma the short field to run their cheating sub play for their first touchdown. 

I will also point out AGAIN as I have the LAST THREE WEEKS that Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold continues to hold the ball too long much of the time.  That is coaching.  Arnold has his moments but along with holding the ball too long, he missed several key passes and was still slightly late on some of the big throws that were completed.  On top of that the play-calling overall is just not consistent.  There just seems to be something slightly off on every drive when Auburn is not playing a cupcake, and many times when they are.  I think everyone watching is seeing this.  This all leads to what I have felt all week and that is a COMPLETE LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN THIS COACHING STAFF.

After this disaster against a very overrated Oklahoma team I just do not think this coaching staff is capable of leading Auburn to an upset over a really good team, EVER.  I am wondering if Auburn is now permanently in the SEC's second row after being one of the few SEC teams to win a national championship in the last twenty years.  I am wondering if Auburn will ever have a really good team again?  You say I am crazy?  Since playing for the national championship in 2013 Auburn literally has three big memorable wins and those are 2017 Georgia, 2017 Bama, and 2019 Bama.  I do not believe Auburn has one other win in the last twelve years against a team that finished in the top ten.  

Texas A&M is now up next.  Auburn has beaten A&M several times but I think the Aggies are better than Oklahoma this season and it is on the road so that pretty much guarantees it is out of a Hugh Freeze-coached team's reach.  Like this week and pretty much any week under Freeze I have absolutely zero confidence that Auburn can show up and just play good solid well-coached football.  I just see more of what we saw this week.  I am betting it will be another disappointing mix of good plays and performances overshadowed by a larger number of bad calls, poor execution, and of course crucial procedure penalties.  Auburn has become everyone's favorite "wrestling heel", the opponent you get excited about and know you are going to get the win against. 

2025 GAME 3 REVIEW: The Hangover Before The Storm

Auburn 31 South Alabama 15.  The Auburn football Tigers finished their preseason on a very blah note yesterday with another mediocre effort.  This is the latest in what is now a long line of blah games coached by Hugh Freeze but it was a win.  There are always positives in a win and the biggest one for Auburn remains an improved offensive line.  It has taken the entire college football system being turned upside down for Auburn to finally find some way to bring in legitimate offensive tackles but it has happened.  Auburn rushed for almost 200 yards again and running back Jeremiah Cobb put up his second 100 yard game in a row.  Those are definite things Auburn can build on and will need coming up.

Again Auburn won but I think you cannot help but compare teams watching this game and the others yesterday.  Can this Auburn team do better than the previous five Auburn teams and win more conference games?  Again the talent level has been upgraded which gives Auburn a chance but has it been upgraded enough and what level is our coaching?  I will start with the defense.  I think D.J. Durkin is a pretty good coach and that we have a decent defensive staff.  I think we have decent talent on the defense with a couple of special players like Keldric Faulk.  I think that is the consensus from just about all Auburn fans.  The problem is the results so far tell a different story...

Baylor ran up 500 yards on this defense and South Alabama got over 300.  I know it was not a big game and they will be better but South Alabama seem to impose their will many times in the game yesterday.  The defense ended up making the plays needed but overall after those two games Auburn fans cannot feel great about this defense.  I mean Baylor appears to be a good team and South Alabama definitely a solid one but giving up over 800 yards?  I just hear warning bells going off especially with South Alabama rushing for almost 150 yards.  This Auburn defense is simply going to have to play a lot better starting next week for Auburn to even have a chance at some big wins. 

Next up I will just repeat again what I have in the last two posts...  Auburn's passing game is just not clicking on all cylinders.  Million dollar man Cam Coleman even though he had a touchdown yesterday has simply not been an impact player.  Eric Singleton has been and appears to be worthy of his hype but Auburn still cannot get it to him enough and he maybe hurt.  Quarterback Jackson Arnold appears to be an upgrade over Payton Thorne but still has issues.  The main one that popped up to me yesterday was watching him execute a perfect play action drop back and have plenty of time... and not throw the ball at the right time or in rhythm.  That just screams coaching to me.  

The opposite would be Tennessee who passed the ball courageously yesterday and only lost because they could not convert a makeable field goal at the end.  They have a good passing game though.  That is what a good college passing game looks like.  You have to have the coaching and Auburn appears to be drastically lacking there.  Auburn's very expensive high rated wide receivers not only dropped several yesterday but either they or Jackson Arnold are doing something wrong since he won't pull the trigger many times.  One of the reasons again appears to be that the coaches have overreacted to Thorne's bad decisions last season and, as I have already opined, made Jackson Arnold scared to make a mistake. 

The offense just looks like an old high school offense passing-wise and Jackson Arnold is just not getting the coaching to pass successfully.  Auburn is a better team than the last four years but with these issues in the passing game I just am not sure how successful this team will be in a tougher-than-ever SEC.  The next three weeks look daunting to say the least.  Oklahoma and Texas A&M are up the next two weeks.  Oklahoma looks to be much improved over last season and Texas A&M just won in South Bend.  I do not think this Auburn team could have done that.  Georgia comes in after that and I sure do not see Auburn playing as well as Tennessee did.

I hope I am just being "negative", I hope Hugh Freeze and this Auburn team prove me wrong however I think most of us have watched good teams and they look like good teams in most all their games.  I think most of us have seen well-coached passing offenses and this just does not appear to be one.  This Auburn team can run the ball but it has not shown a consistent passing offense nor a tough defense.  Most of all this coaching staff has just not shown the mettle to win big games.  Let me repeat that, this coaching staff has just not shown the mettle to win big games.  That does not bode well for next week nor the season.  However Auburn is 3-0 and has a lot of good players.  Please prove me wrong. 

2025 GAME 2 REVIEW: Better Late than Never...

 

Auburn 42 Ball State 3. I apologize for the super late post. The week just got away from me. I initially put this off because I did not know what to say about this game. I guess first is Auburn picked a good cupcake. Ball State is one of the worst college football teams in the country, period. They were not even in the same hemisphere talent-wise as Auburn. The stats bore it all out. Auburn had almost 500 yards of offense. Jackson Arnold and Jeremiah Cobb had career days and the defense held Ball State to under 100 total yards and should have had a shutout if not for an absolutely horrendous call. I mean from the stat line Auburn was nearly perfect...

However while the stat line looked good for the offense I think everyone who watched the same noticed some issues. The offense was just not sharp on several drives in the first half. There is still just something wrong with this offense. I think some of the issues are Jackson Arnold. He looks like a baseball thrower to me that does not have a lot of touch but I think it is more coaching. I have the same questions I had last week, how can Auburn being in the second year with this coaching staff and this offense not look sharper? Auburn has massively upgraded at all positions and their talent is showing through but there is still something wrong with this offense.  

Auburn gets one more warm-up game and then we will see where this team is really at. I have finally settled on the number I think Hugh Freeze has to win this season. Assuming now he beats South Alabama and Mercer, I think with the talent on this roster he now has to win at least FIVE conference games. That will give Auburn its first winning conference record since 2019. I would hope one of those is Georgia or Bama but either way I think that is what this coaching staff has to achieve this season and that is assuming Auburn will have some injuries as well. That happens to everyone every football season and I am sick of the coaches and the homer web sites using it as an all-encompassing excuse.

Around the SEC... My biggest takeaway from watching the SEC this season is that NIL has really helped even the playing field, as in letting other conferences and teams catch up to the SEC. Big bad Bama and Georgia who utterly dominated for quite a few years (when they were doing NIL and everyone else was not) now look a lot closer to everyone else. I hate a lot of things about NIL and all that is going on in college football but that is one of the good things. I think Texas is obviously quite a bit overrated but with their fixed easy conference schedule they have a cakewalk to the SEC Championship game. I think LSU is also overrated as always but that was a huge win last week at Clemson. There is no denying that.  

I also want to give huge props to Mississippi State for beating a ranked Arizona State team. That was a big win for State after everything they have been through the last few seasons. Also while I do not think Michigan is that good I think that was also a big win for Oklahoma. It was good to see "too cool for school, I know everything" Billy Napier gag another one at Florida. Just when it looked like he was safe, he is right back on the hot seat... Elsewhere Kentucky looks to be the bottom of the conference while you have a big jumble of solid-to-good teams in the middle. A few of those teams will have the ball bounce right for them and have a great season and a few will stumble and fall. This coming weekend will kind of unofficially kick off the race with a slew of big conference match-ups. Looking forward to it...

2025 GAME 1 REVIEW: Good Game but...

Auburn 38 Baylor 24.  In a stunning departure from the absolute sheer stupidity shown by the Auburn football head coach last season, the Tigers actually stuck to the running game and got the win.  I am glad it took "experts" to come in after the season and tell the six million dollar man coaching Auburn what to do in games like this.  New quarterback Jackson Arnold rushed for over 100 yards while running backs Damari Alston and Jeremiah Cobb both had 84 and 74 yards rushing respectively.  That of course means that Auburn's upgraded-through-the-portal offensive line showed an immediate return on investment.  Offensive tackles Xavier Chaplin and Mason Murphy appear to be much better than any other offensive tackles seen around the plains for the last decade or more.  That in and of itself might be the biggest positive to come out of this weekend.

Overall, Auburn was just better at about every position than Baylor except when it came to passing the football.  Now again this game Auburn did the right thing and just got the win however the biggest concern for me coming out of this game is the Auburn passing game on both sides of the ball.  Lets look at the defense first...  I mean I think D.J. Durkin is a pretty good coach but dang this was some epically bad defense.  It sure was a shock even for all of us that were ignoring all of the Auburn pay-sites basically saying how great every Auburn player is for months.  I mean all of these guys have carried on all summer telling us how great the line is, how great the linebackers are, and how this might be the best secondary ever at Auburn...  

Lets just go to the numbers...  Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson was 27 of 48 for 419 YARDS and three touchdowns with no interceptions.  I mean yes Auburn did get some crucial stops but I will have to say Baylor sure seemed to call some horrible plays inside the ten yard line thank goodness.  The defense did keep Baylor under 100 yards rushing but is that as big an accomplishment when they pass for over 400???  I think across the board everyone thought the defense would be much better.  Hopefully they improve and I do not think many of the SEC teams ahead on the schedule can throw the ball as good as Baylor or at least I hope not.  The improvement of this defense will be a major factor in how the rest of the season goes for the Tigers.

On offense uh running-wise, Auburn was almost as potent as Baylor was through the air as the Tigers rushed for 300 yards shredding the Baylor defense who appeared dead set on not giving Auburn the deep ball.  However does Baylor have that good a defense where they can just take away the Auburn passing game?  I just do not think so as I bet we will see Baylor in many high-scoring Big 12 games throughout the rest of this season.  With that said though Auburn barely managed 100 yards passing with massively hyped returning wide receivers Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons only getting one catch each.  Monster wide receiver signee Eric Singleton got three but had twenty yards...  I mean yes I am very glad Auburn did what it had to do to win the game but the passing game is still a flashing red light.

Quarterback Jackson Arnold did not look comfortable in the pocket.  He did not make many good passes and he look scared ****less to make a mistake and throw an interception.  I know it is just the first game and all of that but this guy is not a true freshman.  I think he should have been better.  Most of us have watched enough football that even if a quarterback is having a bad game you can see if he is brave in the pocket, if he throws a nice ball, etc...  I did not see any of that with Arnold.  I also think that his success running in this game will encourage the bad habit of running every time he feels pressure.  I see better SEC teams shutting down most of his running.  Also why have we carried on and on and on and paid so much money for all of these wide receivers to not have a passing game good enough against BAYLOR to get them the ball?

The answer appears to be the same as it has been the last decade at Auburn.  Our head coach is an ex-high school coach who is a good salesman and sermonizer but simply does not have the ability to teach or implement modern football passing concepts.  Freeze is a little different as he usually throws a lot of short passes but the simple fact that we could not get any of these really good wide receivers the ball in this game kind of speaks for itself.  However again I would much rather be talking about getting better after a win than after a loss (just ask the other set of fans in this state).  Auburn and Freeze really had to win this game and they did.  Everyone, offense and defense, now has the chance to take to the next two weeks to improve as a team and they better because back-to-back road games at Oklahoma and Texas A&M are looming and we will find out a whole lot more about this team then.

2024 GAME 12 REVIEW: Back to Form

Bama 28  Auburn 14.  Well just like every other good moment this season things turned back to crap quickly.  Every time the last two seasons a Hugh Freeze team does something good... the bottom falls out the next week.  Auburn finally got a big win last season at Arkansas... and then lost to New Mexico State at home.  I guess lets say that Auburn played well against Bama last season even though it might have been the worst loss in the series ever, the team then followed that up with an all-time horrific bowl performance.  Auburn starts this season with a video game night showcasing some good new players... and immediately follows that up with a catastrophic loss to Cal.  Freeze benches Payton Thorne and starts Hank Brown and blows out New Mexico... and then loses four games in a row, three of them he had to work hard to help Auburn lose.  The Tigers finally win an SEC game at Kentucky... and then lay an egg at home against Vandy.  The beat just goes on and on.

Once again this week after Freeze's biggest win at Auburn against Texas A&M...  Auburn laid another giant egg in Tuscaloosa against Bama with maybe the worst game plan of the year on offense.  This latest lost featured a Freeze specialty, abandoning the run game early.  Freeze and company only used running back Jarquez Hunter 13 times this game while throwing the ball 40 times with ineffective quarterback Payton Thorne.  Auburn padded the stats to make them look better at the end but the only stat that counts is the scoreboard.  Auburn drove into the red zone four times in the first half and came away with two field goals.  The Tigers did not score a touchdown till the game was over and Bama was up 28-6.  Finally, Auburn had a chance to make it closer after scoring their first touchdown but Freeze called a stupid easily sniffed out running back pass that was easily intercepted.  It was the final embarrassment in another terrible game on his watch.

Freeze has staked everything on upgrading Auburn's roster.  I talked about this last week as well.  However after another bad coaching job I am back to wondering if it will matter?  Bama is better than Auburn but they turned the ball over three times and the Tigers were in the red zone four times and could not get in the end zone.  Bama's defense is talented but not a top unit.  A good coach would have done more today, this season, and last.  We have seen two whole seasons on Freeze's watch and you just have not seen it.  You saw good coaching when Dye started, when Bowden started, when Tuberville started, when Chizik started, and when Malzahn started.  Not many of them ended well but you saw good coaching when they started.  I just do not think you can say the same about Freeze.  Auburn has had a couple of good games and a lot of bad ones.  Are better days ahead?  I have to say after watching another egg get laid today I am not hopeful.

I guess maybe if Freeze got a great quarterback and a great offensive tackle in the mix something might can change but what are the chances of that?  I mean a quarterback and offensive tackle that could be real difference makers in tough SEC games?  I think the chances of that are pretty low.  I think Auburn might can have a winning season next year and start going to a bowl regularly with Hugh Freeze but outside of lucking out in a few like last week I always see him ultimately coming up short.  It has now been six long years since Auburn ended a season with a win and four years since even having a winning season.  Auburn has never been this bad in my lifetime.  As I say in the title of this blog, I know it is just a game but it is getting to me.  I am so tired of watching games like today.  I am so tired of every good moment like last week being short lived.  I guess it is good the season is over because I do not think I can do another post on this team or about Hugh Freeze anytime soon.

I do have one more comment on football in general after watching a lot of it, college and professional, over this weekend.  These million dollar braniacs calling the plays today might want to go back to doing a few things like they did in the old days.  First, in college, stop making your offensive linemen stand set for so long while you overcoach and try to change the play.  I have never seen more procedure penalties in the red zone in my life as I have seen these past few weeks.  You can say what you want but they are killers and being able to change your play doesn't matter if it keeps happening.  Next, in both college and the pros these geniuses might want to go back to using the good old goal line heavy formation inside the five yard line.  Yes there were epic goal line stands back in the old days but not near as many as I saw just this weekend with teams lined up in spread formations.  I mean it is unbelievable how many teams came away with nothing after having first and goal around the three yard line.  Sometimes you cannot trick the other team, you simply have to line up and run it in.