Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where on Saturday Mississippi State and Kentucky won SEC games on the same day for the first time since Nov. 5, 2022.
First Quarter: Slouching Tigers, Shrinking ‘Canes
The fact that Hugh Freeze (1) lasted until the afternoon of Nov. 2 at Auburn (2) is one of the biggest upsets in a season of surprises. A school that has a historic intolerance of losing seasons let seven other power-conference programs beat it into the job market before finally pulling the plug Sunday.
In an autumn where the coaching carousel has spun out of control for weeks, the Tigers are finally onboard. It’s about time, because the Freeze Era was an unambiguous failure.
At 1–5 in the Southeastern Conference, Auburn is firmly entrenched in the league’s five-team Pit of Despair at the bottom of the standings, alongside Arkansas (0–5), South Carolina (1–6), Kentucky (1–5) and Mississippi State (1–4). The Tigers’ chance to escape the pit evaporated in a pitiful, 10–3 home loss Saturday night to the Wildcats, who hadn’t won an SEC game since September 2024.
That dropped Freeze’s record to 15–19 at Auburn, the worst mark for anyone who coached at least 25 games there since Earl Brown went 3-22-4 from 1948–50. (Bryan Harsin was trap-doored in 2022 after just 23 games with a 9-14 record.) Freeze is 6–16 in the SEC, a winning percentage of .273, which is below Harsin’s .308 mark.
At the time he was hired, this looked like an appropriate match: Desperate program lands winner with baggage. But Freeze has stopped winning, and most surprisingly his offense has stopped scoring. Auburn is really bad on the side of the ball where he’s done his life’s work.
In SEC play, the Tigers are last in the league in points per game (15), yards per game (286.5) and yards per play (4.25). They also have scored the fewest touchdowns (eight) and have the lowest pass efficiency rating (116.02).
The three-point exercise in futility Saturday, against a Kentucky team that gave up 56 in its last game, was Auburn’s lowest scoring total in four years. It was the latest example of how thoroughly Freeze has fumbled his quarterback situation.
After two years with Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne (the first one bad, the second one better), Freeze went and got Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold (3) out of the portal. This was a risky move after Arnold’s disappointing 2024 season with the Sooners, after which he was replaced by John Mateer of Washington State.
A five-star recruit, Arnold proved to be a scattershot passer with a lot of athleticism but a penchant for taking sacks. Maybe Freeze thought he could fix those things this season, but the Arnold experience has played out the same way at Auburn. He’s last in the SEC in pass efficiency for the second straight season, and the team he’s playing for is last in the league in sacks for the second straight season.
Freeze finally opted for backup Ashton Daniels (4), a Stanford transfer, in the second half at Arkansas on Oct. 25. He was serviceable against the porous Razorbacks and got the start against Kentucky, but the offense completely malfunctioned. Freeze shoved Arnold back into the game for two series in the fourth quarter, in which he completed two passes and was sacked twice.
Auburn trudged off the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium with fans calling for Freeze’s firing. It would cost about $15 million in buyout money to get rid of him. That’s a lot, but four years ago Auburn set what was then the industry standard with a $21 million buyout on Gus Malzahn’s deal. Malzahn went 68–35 at the school, a record that by current standards is absolutely magical, and he still got whacked.
It’s a tough year to compete in the job market—but sitting on the sidelines while Freeze is authoring a third straight losing season was impossible. It’s a very good job, with an incredibly passionate and loyal fan base and access to abundant local talent. Freeze isn’t the guy to do it.
Miami Stumbles Once Again
Meanwhile at Miami (5), things are nowhere near as dire but have taken a turn for the worse. Another Mario Cristobal swoon (6) is looming.
The Hurricanes have shown a tendency to get worse as the season goes along under Cristobal. His record at The U in August and September is 16–2; his record in October is 9–5; and his record in November is now 4–9 after the loss Saturday at SMU.
A 9–0 start in 2024 became a 10–3 finish. A 5–0 start this year has become 6–2, with the ‘Canes currently in seventh place in an upside-down Atlantic Coast Conference.
Under Cristobal, there have been big victories early: Texas A&M, Florida, Notre Dame, etc. Then there have been upset losses later that take the shine off a season and imperil playoff bids: Georgia Tech and North Carolina State in 2023; Georgia Tech and Syracuse last year; Louisville and SMU this year.
Quarterback Carson Beck (7), Miami’s big-dollar portal acquisition, threw six interceptions in the losses to the Cardinals and Mustangs. He’s now thrown 21 picks in his last 21 games.
Could Miami still make the College Football Playoff? Yeah, it’s possible at 10–2 with wins over Notre Dame and a South Florida team that is still in the fight for the Group of 6 bid. But if the Hurricanes don’t even make the ACC championship game, they could be bypassed just as they were at 10–2 last year.
At present, the ACC leader is Virginia (8) at 8–1 overall and 5–1 in the league, despite a loss to NC State. (That matchup was scheduled as a nonconference game). The Cavaliers were picked to finish 14th before the season.
It’s no small irony that Clemson (9) and Florida State (10) are nowhere near the title chase after suing the league to attain preferential revenue shares based on higher TV ratings. They’re a combined 3–8 in the ACC, and their matchup this Saturday in Clemson has been relegated to the ACC Network. That won’t exactly be a ratings bonanza.
Dash College Football Playoff Bracket
The CFP selection committee unveils its rankings Tuesday night, beginning the month-long silly season leading up to the only one that matters—the final rankings on Dec. 7. As of today, this is how The Dash sees it—with two Big Ten teams far ahead of the rest of the pack.
(Of note: BYU and Texas Tech will clear things up between them Saturday in Lubbock.)
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Mississippi
7. Oregon
8. BYU
9. Texas Tech
10. Virginia
11. Louisville
12. Memphis
On the bubble: Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Iowa, Georgia Tech, Miami, Texas, Vanderbilt, USC, Michigan, Missouri, Pittsburgh.
First-round games:
No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Georgia
No. 11 Louisville at No. 6 Mississippi
No. 10 Virginia at No. 7 Oregon
No. 9 Texas Tech at No. 8 BYU
Quarterfinals:
Cotton Bowl: Memphis-Georgia winner vs. Alabama
Sugar Bowl: Louisville-Mississippi winner vs. Texas A&M
Orange Bowl: Virginia-Oregon winner vs. Indiana
Rose Bowl: Texas Tech-BYU winner vs. Ohio State.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Forde-Yard Dash: Leave No Doubt, the Hugh Freeze Era at Auburn Was a Disaster.
