Auburn suffered a loss again yesterday at home to Kentucky, making it the fifth loss of the season for Hugh Freeze. The HC is in his third season with the program and has found it extremely hard to win games, going 6-16 in SEC play. Not to mention, the Tigers under him have defeated just one AP top-25 team so far. As a result, the 56-year-old is coming under great scrutiny.

There are significant rumblings about his job security being heard from Auburn, Alabama. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, the program is currently in the process of deciding Hugh Freeze’s future.”Sundays are typically off days on The Plains; as of 7 a.m. CT on Sunday, no team meeting has been scheduled. Auburn administrators are discussing the future of Freeze, sources have said. Meanwhile, sources across the industry are bracing for change, though…Conversations have been ongoing among top boosters in recent weeks about Freeze’s future, sources have indicated to On3,” reported Nakos.

To do that, Auburn administrators are pondering the HC’s relatively cheap $15.8 million buyout. The buyout, when compared to other high-profile programs, is quite cheap. For instance, James Franklin’s firing from Penn State cost them $48 million. Brian Kelly’s firing led to LSU getting the challenge of navigating his $53 million buyout. This decision comes at a time when the Tigers are in deep mud.

“If Auburn has any self-respect for its football program, Freeze will have a buyout check in his hand by high noon. Consider this a five-year comeuppance for Auburn firing Gus Malzahn in 2020 and forking over what, at the time, ranked as the largest buyout in the sport’s history. Malzahn never served a losing season, but Auburn thought it could do better,” said CBS Sports’ Blake Toppmeyer. Dropping wins against teams like Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Missouri seemed likely for Freeze.

For one, the majority of these teams were ranked, while Auburn still tried to punch above its weight. But that 3-10 loss against Kentucky in Week 10 has turned the whole discourse against Hugh Freeze. Kentucky itself is struggling and is 3-5 on the season. Not to mention, it was on a four-game losing streak before coming to Auburn. But the Tigers still found a way to lose to Kentucky.

Hugh Freeze opens up about losing to Kentucky

Instead of playing Jackson Arnold under center, Hugh Freeze went with QB2 Ashton Daniels. It was a decision taken by the HC amid inconsistent performances. For instance, against Arkansas, Arnold completed just 58.3% of his passes and threw an interception. Even his rushing game wasn’t prominent, notching up just 9 yards. But playing Aston Daniels under center did no good either for Hugh Freeze.

“Well, again, without watching the film, we took a pretty good kicking tonight. We max-protected every third down in the second half and still got sacked. In a game like this, where the possessions are very few, it felt like you’re going to have to protect. We certainly didn’t do that tonight,” said Freeze after the game. Auburn could just gain 123 yards in the air, and Aston Daniels took a whopping 7 sacks. Not just that, but Auburn failed to sustain drives and was forced to punt mostly in the first half. The verdict?

Tigers don’t look like the team that it aspires to be. A team that won the 2010 national title and produced one of the legends of the game, Cam Newton. It could be the time now for Auburn to make a tough decision and fire Hugh Freeze. Because the program isn’t a bowl game team, right? But also because if Auburn can fire Gus Malzahn, who had a $21.5 million buyout, despite winning seasons. Hugh Freeze, then, could become a no-brainer decision.