Paul Finebaum claims it is 'virtually impossible' for Auburn to have a great season after Cal loss

Auburn took their fourth bad loss of their past five total outings this weekend against California. That now is already capping what this season can be for them according to Paul Finebaum

Finebaum discussed the 21-14 loss to Cal by the Tigers during his appearance on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ on Monday. Unfortunately for them, this is not a different direction than what they’ve seen as of late on The Plains.

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“Well, there’s a difference between an outlier and a trend and this is a trend,” said Finebaum. “This is not an aberration, this is not a one-off. This is where this program is right now under Hugh Freeze.”

“I feel like we’re on the same train that started with New Mexico State. Then the Alabama situation, the bowl game and here we are again. That’s the only time that Auburn looked good in all of this other than almost the entire game against Alabama. It’s the game a week ago which frankly just doesn’t make much difference.”

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Now, that trend has put their year in a place that Auburn may not be able to recover from. That’s based on the numbers for Finebaum with him at least seeing three more losses for them. That doesn’t even include three or four other games that could be defeats if things don’t change for the Tigers.

“It’s not over after two games but this was – I mean I don’t know anyone who, when you start doing the math on Auburn’s season, is going how can Auburn have a big year? You’re going to have to turn a couple of games. Nobody had this as a game that you had to turn. That’s what makes this so frustrating two weeks in,” said Finebaum. “Everybody was looking down the schedule and going how does Auburn get to a really good season? I think it’s virtually impossible to have a great season now because this was one that Auburn threw away, much like last year.”

“Well, I mean, let’s look at what seems to be impossible games to win. That would be Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri. Stop me if you see Auburn beating those three. So, here we are. We’re probably sitting on an 8-4 record, which I thought would have been a good season. That, to me, looked doable with the schedule,” Finebaum continued. “Now every other game, whether it’s Arkansas or Oklahoma? Games like that suddenly – A&M. Those games are in play. I bring that up because, if those games are in play, they go the wrong way, and you don’t make an upset, we’re back to 7-5 or maybe worse. That’s not progress in the second year. I mean you fired a guy who was doing this.”

With that, Finebaum is placing the blame on Hugh Freeze to start his second season. Fans might be directing it to their quarterback concerns but, in the end, that’s a decision that their head coach also made.

“There’s no one else to blame but Hugh Freeze,” said Finebaum. “If you want to pile on Payton Thorne, go ahead. He’s the one that Hugh Freeze chose. Hugh Freeze is the offensive wizard. Hugh Freeze is the head coach. I believe this is correct – he also made him a team leader, a captain. So, I mean, this is somebody that Hugh Freeze banked the entire season on and now this season seems like it’s on the brink.”

“I mean Hugh Freeze looks like sometimes that he’s in another world,” Finebaum said. “I’m not really sure what’s going on with him but I’m not concerned what it looks like at press conferences and in interviews. I’m more concerned what he’s doing during the week in preparation and getting this team ready to play.”

There’s a lot of season left for everybody, including the Auburn Tigers. Still, at 1-1 following another loss, especially one at Jordan-Hare, Finebaum thinks the ceiling is already much lower for them now in 2024.