Payton Thorne returned; Jarquez Hunter ran for 900; the defense regressed to the SEC's 11th-ranked scoring defense. The year read as the least on-voice Auburn team since 2012 — and the fanbase knew it.
2024 — Freeze Year Two — 5-7, Second Missed Bowl
Auburn went 5-7 in Hugh Freeze's second season, missed a second consecutive bowl, and entered the 2025 season as the SEC West's most-questioned regime.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- Payton ThorneQB2,713 passing yards
- Hank BrownQB403 passing yards
- Jarquez HunterRB1,201 rushing yards
- Damari AlstonRB276 rushing yards
- Keandre LambertWR981 receiving yards
- Cam ColemanWR598 receiving yards
- Malcolm SimmonsWR451 receiving yards
- Dorian Mausi Jr.LB81 tackles
- Jerrin ThompsonS65 tackles
- Jalen McLeodNT56 tackles
- Keldric FaulkDE7 sacks
- Demarcus RiddickLB3 sacks
- Eugene AsanteLB2 sacks
Season leaders, 2024.
Iron Bowl, November 30. Alabama 28, Auburn 14. The fourth straight Iron Bowl loss; the first post-Saban Iron Bowl with no rivalry spark. Kalen DeBoer's first Alabama team won the register-defining game without theater.
December 7. No bowl invite. Second consecutive post-season absence for the Freeze regime. The athletic department's public retention of Freeze was announced within the week; the fanbase's private calibration was less settled.
"War Eagle, and the runway is shorter."
2024 is the chapter that extended the Freeze bet's runway at exactly the cost the Plains did not want to pay. Two consecutive missed bowls is the structural fact; the recruiting-class argument that carried 2023 did not carry through 2024 in the same way. The Iron Bowl margin widened. The defensive identity narrowed. The defiant-underdog-with-teeth register held — the fanbase did not pretend the year was better than it was, and did not pretend the regime had failed before the 2025 season. The chapter's legacy is the question it set up: 2025 is the year that either validates the Freeze bet or doesn't, and both the schedule and the roster are built for the answer.