Opinion: Auburn need a new offense

Auburn has lost it's fourth Southeastern Conference game in a row with Saturday's loss to Missouri. There is widespread speculation about the future of Hugh Freeze as Auburn's head coach as this season, that began with such promise has spiraled out of control.

Hugh Freeze believes in Hugh Freeze and the offense that he ran at Ole Miss. The problem is that times have changed and that run pass option stuff is passe in modern SEC football. DCs know how to take away the option in the RPO they want to take away and force you to use the other option. Auburn can't play from the pocket because their coach is refusing to coach that. Similarly, Auburn is at a disadvantage in short yardage situations because their coach is refusing to ever line up in I formation. It is 3rd and 1 or 4th and two and the quarterback gets the snap ten yards behind the line of scrimmage, and the back (or too often the quarterback) has to run for 8-10 yards before they even get to the line of scrimmage meaning linebackers and safeties have time to react and our line has to hold their blocks for 2 seconds longer. The results time after time have been disastrous. Hugh Freeze - the offensive coordinator and play caller extraordinaire is going to get Hugh Freeze - the head coach fired within the next 35 days. The decisions to go into the transfer portal and get Peyton Thorne (and stick with him for a second year) and get a very limited Jackson Arnold instead of developing a quarterback - be it Walker White or Deuce Knight ready to play doomed any chance that he might have had given the outdated, gimmicky offense that Freeze is running. I was never for hiring Freeze, but I thought he would consistently produce 7,8, or even 9-win teams. Instead, we have 6, 5, and 3 win teams. I am not sure that I couldn't win 6 games in the NIL era at Auburn with the amount of money the boosters are pouring in. That is probably not true, but I am self-aware enough not to have gone down as my own offensive coordinator - or second down play caller (with veto power on first and third downs) like was reported this summer.

Freeze should hire an offensive coordinator and let him run (and be responsible for) the offence - like Auburn does for defense. The defense is probably top 3 in the SEC but are getting no help - especially in fourth quarters from the offense.

Freeze is 14 and 18 at Auburn and 5 and 15 in the SEC. Some have argued that Freeze should get a fourth year on the Plains. Last year Florida decided that Billy Napier should get a fourth year. After a 3 and 4 start (the exact record that Freeze has) Florida decided that they had made a mistake. Napier was let go mid-season with a 23 and 24 record at Florida. Will Auburn follow in Florida's footsteps and give Freeze another season to turn it around? If they do will they regret that decision.

Brandon Moseley is the lead reporter and content manager at the Alabama Gazette. brandonmreporter@gmail.com

Opinions are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Alabama Gazette staff or publishers.