Could Auburn become a College Football Playoff contender by 2025?
The hype surrounding Auburn football is real.
Despite Auburn having yet to play a game under new head coach Hugh Freeze, one college football writer feels that Auburn’s trajectory for success is on the right track and that Tiger fans can expect great things by the third season of the Freeze tenure.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports recently looked into his crystal ball and projected what the top 25 rankings would look like in 2025, and Auburn is projected to work its way back into the polls. Crawford revealed that the criteria used in his future rankings include:
A three-year recruiting average per 247Sports’ Overall Team Rankings.
The likelihood each program has its current coach and staff of assistants in the future, quarterback rooms, and their trajectory moving forward.
How expanded conferences and altered scheduling will potentially affect wins and losses.
According to that list, Auburn checks in a No. 20.
When forecasting the next three seasons for Auburn, Crawford sees the Tigers improving season by season. He believes that Auburn will work towards becoming a top 25 team this season, and will end the 2024 season as one of the country’s top teams before becoming a contender for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff in 2025. Crawford also advises college football fans to buy into what Freeze is doing on the Plains.
Buy stock in Hugh Freeze now before it’s too late. The SEC is undoubtedly going to become tougher with expansion, but depending on the Tigers’ draw, the buy-in price will remain affordable before the 2023 campaign and perhaps 2024 on the Plains. Freeze is a proven winner in the SEC as the former leader at Ole Miss and has always been able to recruit. He’s never had a chance to do it at a program with Auburn’s heightened resources, however.
Freeze has the chance to get Auburn to that point, or beyond, in three seasons. He has already proven that he can work the recruiting trail as well as the transfer portal to fill his program’s needs, which will really begin to show by 2025. If Auburn finds a way to improve its on-field product this season, the other factors needed to build a national-championship team on the Plains will fall into place.
