Auburn's ideal Hugh Freeze replacement is set to make his case in a marquee matchup

Hugh Freeze has only been the head coach at Auburn for a season and a half, but already he feels like a dead man walking. After a listless 6-7 debut, 2024 was supposed to be the year the Tigers took a step forward and showed proof of concept that they could be legitimate contenders in the new, mega-loaded SEC.

Instead, they've looked ... pretty much exactly like they did in 2023: Payton Thorne still very much not the answer at quarterback, a solid defense once again hamstrung by a limited offense, an almost preternatural ability to find ways to lose close games. Auburn finally snapped a four-game losing streak with a win at Kentucky last Saturday, but at this point it's too little, too late. There are no signs of progress, no signs of life, and the unit that Freeze has gone out of his way to take ownership for — the offense — keeps floundering, wasting one of the best freshman receiver classes in recent memory.

But if we've seen enough to know that Freeze can't get the Tigers where they want to go, that begs the question: Who can? Luckily enough, there just so happens to be an exceedingly qualified candidate who has a built-in connection to the program. And he's about to make his case for the gig in one of the biggest games of Week 10.

Rhett Lashlee checks all the boxes as a replacement for Hugh Freeze at Auburn

If Lashlee's name looks familiar, it should: He spent years learning under Malzahn, following him from Springdale High School to Arkansas to Arkansas State and finally to the Plains, where he served as offensive coordinator from 2013 through 2016. Lashlee's currently the head coach at SMU, a position he's held since 2022. He needed a reset in year one, but over the last two seasons he's taken the Mustangs to another level, going 11-3 and winning the AAC in 2023 and getting out to a 7-1 start in the team's ACC debut.

And while his mentor Malzahn has struggled to keep his version of the hurry-up spread up to date, Lashlee's offenses have remained on the cutting edge. Wherever he's gone, points have followed: Prior to taking the head job in Dallas, he was the offensive coordinator under Manny Diaz at Miami, making Tyler Van Dyke look like a potential future first-round pick. (It's probably not a coincidence that Van Dyke's production plummeted as soon as Lashlee left.) And the story's been the same at SMU; cycling through three different quarterbacks over the last three years, Lashlee has still never averaged fewer than 34 points a game.

So you have an innovative offensive mind, with experience in Texas and Florida, who's already managed to elevate SMU's recruiting profile (the Mustangs are recruiting better than any ACC team not named Miami or Clemson right now, no small feat for a team that was in the Group of 5 just a year ago). And he already has years of experience at Auburn? Lashlee sure seems to check every box there is to check.

But if Auburn's going to make a move, it's going to have to be soon. Because after Saturday, the cat may be fully out of the bag: Lashlee's Mustangs are set to host undefeated Pittsburgh in a game that could go a long way to deciding who wins the ACC (and who makes it into the College Football Playoff). It's the biggest home game for SMU in decades, and if Lashlee and Co. come out on top, he's going to go from a well-kept secret to a Coach of the Year candidate.