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Paul Finebaum is managing expectations for Auburn and Hugh Freeze ahead of the 2023 season.
Hope has been high for the Tigers as they enter the Freeze era after not reaching a bowl game in 2022. But Finebaum cautioned that anything more than 7 wins this season for Auburn could be out of reach.
“I think 8 [wins] is probably SEC-coach-of-the-year land for Hugh Freeze,” Finebaum said on McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning. “Seven would be considered a good season. I just think it’s a talent deficit.
“I think a lot of times what you don’t know in the SEC is the 50/50 games. We obsess over that because you have so many of those. But you saw last year, nobody could have seen Vanderbilt over Kentucky and Florida in consecutive weeks. That was impossible to predict.”
The oddsmakers in Vegas tend to agree with Finebaum. Auburn’s regular season win total at DraftKings Sports Book sits at 6.5 with just a couple weeks to go until the regular season.
Here’s the full audio of Finebaum’s comments, which also include remarks on expectations for other SEC programs:
The @SECNetwork's Paul @Finebaum joined the guys on @MacandCube to discuss why expectations may be too high for @AuburnFootball and some other SEC schools in 2023.
Whole interview: https://t.co/7E9prP7gHh pic.twitter.com/FpynGpYxo5
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) August 16, 2023
Auburn will face UMass in its season-opener on Sept. 2.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
