Hugh Freeze Forced to Accept Jackson Arnold Reality as Week 1 Exposes Major Offensive Flaw

Auburn Tigers HC Hugh Freeze didn’t even get a full weekend of peace before reality tapped him on the shoulder. Auburn walked into Waco looking like a team ready to bully Baylor, and for the most part, they did just that. 38-24, job done, Tigers roll. But when the smoke cleared, the love-hate hype around Jackson Arnold came with a sharp asterisk. Freeze may have found his quarterback of the future, but that future comes with a hard ceiling he can’t wish away.

Let’s cut to it: Auburn didn’t just beat Baylor, they ran through them. Literally. The Tigers chalked up 307 rushing yards on 51 carries, while the Bears? A measly 64 yards. Jackson Arnold played and looked like a man possessed with 137 rushing yards and two scores on 16 carries. That’s not your typical SEC stat line for a quarterback. It’s basically a running back who happens to throw sometimes. Damari Alston chipped in 84 yards and Jeremiah Cobb added 74 more, turning this game into a downhill clinic that Dave Aranda’s defense had no answers for.

The air game? Borderline non-existent. Arnold went 11-of-17 for 108 yards. No touchdowns, no picks, just safe and short. Efficient, sure, but explosive? Not even close. That’s the part Auburn fans need to swallow. On August 31st, former NFL tight end George Wrighster hopped onto his podcast and kept it blunt about Auburn’s future with Arnold Jackson: “This is apparently who the kid is, 16 for 137, and two touchdowns, rush, 11 for 17 for 108, no touchdowns, and no picks. This is who Jackson Arnold is, and this is how Auburn is going to have to win football games… He threw the ball only one more time than he ran it. That is something to note about watching Auburn play football, do not expect vertical passing attack, no matter how good their weapons are.”

He wasn’t exaggerating either. Arnold’s stat line against Baylor looked like a rerun of his Oklahoma days, where he finished 2024 with 1,421 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions, but racked up 444 yards on the ground. Freeze is basically coaching with a dual-threat who leans more “threat” with his legs than his arm.

Now here’s where it gets tricky. Arnold ran the ball just one fewer time than he threw it. Read that again. That’s not balance, that’s identity. Auburn isn’t building an offense to air it out with 300-yard passing games. Wrighster doubled down, warning folks not to expect it: Instead, think more along the lines of Florida State’s Thomas Castellanos. Heavy run, safe dink passes, limit turnovers. It works when you’re in control. But if Auburn gets behind on the scoreboard? That’s when the cracks will show.

Freeze knows it too. The play-calling wasn’t an accident. Auburn dialed up 51 runs versus 17 passes. That ratio screams, “We know who our QB is.” And honestly, it worked like a charm in Waco. Baylor had no way to stop Arnold once he got moving downhill. But what happens when Auburn lines up against an SEC defensive front that’s built different? Georgia, Bama, LSU. Those defenses live for one-dimensional QBs. Freeze can spin it however he wants, but right now, the book on Arnold is already out there.

Auburn’s Penalty Problem

If Arnold’s passing limitations weren’t enough of a reality check, Auburn’s penalty problem nearly handed Baylor a lifeline. Freeze admitted post-game that his defense came out sluggish. But the real killer? Flags at the worst possible times. The Tigers racked up nine penalties for 83 yards. They flipped the momentum in real time.

It started early with back-to-back false starts by Xavier Chaplin and Mason Murphy, followed by an illegal formation that killed another drive. Baylor didn’t even have to earn stops. Auburn gift-wrapped them. That’s self-sabotage you can’t afford once SEC play kicks in. Even worse, the defense piled on with costly mistakes that let Baylor hang around.

Case in point: Rayshawn Pleasant got tagged with defensive holding on 4th & 3 right before halftime. Baylor didn’t score, but Freeze had to be fuming on the sideline. Then came Kaylin Lee’s pass interference in the 3rd quarter on 3rd & 2. That bonehead play set up a Baylor touchdown that cut the lead to 24–17. Momentum gone. Crowd is alive. Stress is through the roof.

And it didn’t stop there. In the 4th, Jay Crawford’s holding penalty set up another Baylor score, shrinking the lead to just a touchdown at 31–24. Auburn’s offense bailed them out with one last punch, but the defense clearly hadn’t learned its lesson. Jahquez Robinson got flagged for another blatant pass interference with under four minutes to go, which could’ve been disastrous if not for a Baylor drop in the end zone. Auburn dodged bullets, but those bullets were self-inflicted.

The refs didn’t even catch everything. Auburn straight-up got away with a nasty facemask later in the game that should’ve drawn laundry. That’s the kind of sloppiness that makes you shake your head. Against Baylor, Auburn survived. Against LSU or Georgia? That’s how you get run off the field. Freeze has to clean that up, or this team is gonna fumble away winnable games like they did in the past!