After going back-to-back 6-7 and 5-7 in 2023 and 2024, Auburn boosters and AD John Cohen bet big on Hugh Freeze to make it to the playoff, or at least near the playoff realm in 2025. FYI: Hugh Freeze is the only head coach to enter his third year with a losing record in the last 50 years. Turning a blind eye, they spent big in the transfer portal; they picked former 5-star Jackson Arnold out of Norman after the Payton Thorne project failed miserably. Fast forward to Week 10, and the Tigers are still the same at 4-4, and Jackson Arnold has become the biggest liability on that squad. Word on the street is that juggling between Ashton Daniels and Jackson Arnold could put Freeze’s job on the line.

The Auburn QB carousel started last week against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The former Oklahoma Sooners QB has been the starter all year, but he’s had his ups and downs. Fans have been getting frustrated, especially with some of his worst moments, like that awful pick-six he threw against Arkansas. That was the last straw for Coach Hugh Freeze, who benched him during that game, and that’s when Daniels came in. The Stanford transfer pulled the 33-24 dub. After the game, Coach Freeze said the starting job was now an “open competition” and named Daniels as the starting QB for the Kentucky game. This whole thing became a major story, and now this might backfire on Freeze’s face.

On October 31st, CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford hopped onto CBS Sports Network alongside Emory Hunt and Richard Johnson and explained why the Auburn Tigers are 4-4 and 1-4 in the SEC. You guessed it right: QB inconsistency. Brad Crawford started off, “the reason the Tigers are four and four right now with one SEC win is because quarterback play has been inconsistent. Now, I think we’ll see two quarterbacks play against Kentucky. Mark Stoops probably has prepared his team for both players this week in practice, not a lot of film out there, at least in his Auburn jersey from Ashton Daniels, but he did play a bit in the Arkansas game.” 

Jackson Arnold has to be the most inconsistent signal-caller in the entire SEC. Despite having one of the best wideout corps in the nation (Eric Singleton Jr., Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons), Jackson has only thrown for six passing touchdowns (last in the SEC among starting QBs). That left Hugh Freeze with no choice but to switch to Daniels. However, it comes with a significant risk.

Brad believes Mark Stoops might have already developed a contingency plan for Daniels. Kentucky often plays better than people expect when they’re considered the underdog, especially when they’re only losing by around 9 or 10 points according to predictions. Look at the Longhorns game.

Even though Auburn is the favorite to win on paper, Kentucky has a habit of making games messy and difficult. They put up 34 against No. 14 Tennessee and almost pulled off an upset against No. 12 Texas in Week 8, losing 13-10. Mark Stoops’ squad has been keeping games close, and they might finally pull the curtain this weekend, per Brad Crawford. If that happens, the boosters are going to collect Hugh Freeze’s head by the end of the season.

Hugh Freeze’s Kryptonite and buyout

The biggest problem with Hugh Freeze is that he turns Auburn into a D2 program when they play other SEC teams. Even though he’s known for being a great recruiter (pulled back-to-back Top 10 classes in 2024 and 2025), that success hasn’t translated into wins on the field. It’s safe to say there’s a ton of pressure on him to turn things around fast.

His 6–15 SEC record as of Week 9 of the 2025 season is pretty rough, and it’s even worse when you look at his 1–12 record against ranked teams. Fans are getting tired of watching the team struggle against the top programs, especially when Freeze keeps bringing in high-level recruits. All that talent needs to start backing up on game day, and it just simply hasn’t.

Even though it would cost a decent chunk of change to fire Freeze, around $15.4 million, it’s not an impossible amount for Auburn. And when the athletic director, John Cohen, isn’t exactly giving a full-throated endorsement, you know things are cooked. The chatter around Freeze’s job security isn’t going away, even if he wins the rest of the games on the schedule.