Paul Finebaum: Auburn ‘trending’ in right direction for 2025 season

Many are expecting Auburn to improve upon their 5-7 from 2024 during their 2025 campaign. Consider ESPN’s Paul Finebaum a believer in Hugh Freeze ahead of his third season with the Tigers.

The analyst revealed his prediction for Auburn ahead of this coming college football season. While he didn’t specify a record or anything, he does expect the Tigers to be better, which means one could assume he think they’re heading to a bowl game in 2025, at least.

“I like Auburn to be better,” Finebaum stated, expecting Freeze’s team to make a bit of a leap in 2025 compared to last season’s journey, via McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “Are they good enough? I’m not sure yet. But I think Auburn is trending in the right direction.”

Why does Finebaum think Auburn should be better? Well, their record in 2024 was a bit deceiving. There were a bunch of games the ESPN analyst thinks the Tigers could’ve won, and if they iron out the details, they could be a bit of a threat.

“For Auburn, it’s being competitive in the SEC,” Finebaum said, earlier this offseason. “You can’t lose a game like Vanderbilt at home. You can’t just throw away nonconference games like they did last year against Cal. It’s just little silly things. The Oklahoma game, inexcusable. I just gave you three games that Auburn should have won.

“Now, you do the math, what’s the record? I mean, they have a pretty good record right now. I think they have to be able to do that.”

Alas, Auburn fell to California 21-14 in Week 2 of last season. At the time, it didn’t look like too bad of a loss, but California ultimately finished the season with just a 6-7 record.

As Finebaum mentioned, Auburn also suffered losses to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. All three of those teams finished in the bottom half of the SEC standings. While Finebaum doesn’t expect Auburn to be a powerhouse next season, he’s confident the Tigers will take a step forward.

“I think the opener is a little bit scary because it’s a hostile situation on the first Friday night with a new quarterback. But, I think they’ll live and die with Jackson Arnold,” Finebaum added. “Ultimately, though, I think it’s a much better team.

“I think it’s a much better staff, and I think somewhere in that eight-win range would be considered successful. I know that’s below Auburn standards, maybe nine, but you can’t go below eight. Otherwise, the program just looks like it is literally stuck in the mud.”

It all starts for Auburn when they travel to Baylor for their season opener. The Bears will be an immediate test for the Tigers after going 8-5 last season. Paul Finebaum will certainly be watching that game with a keen eye.