Auburn football is expected to have a great weekend at the expense of Cal and Notre Dame

Hugh Freeze's Auburn football program can inflict an on-field loss on Cal and an off-field loss on Notre Dame in Week 2. Beating the Golden Bears at Jordan-Hare Stadium and bringing in Fighting Irish 4-star QB Deuce Knight could give Freeze more momentum than he ever had on the Plains.

This is especially true if the Cal game showcases Alabama A&M's explosive offense, but on a realistic scale, against an ACC team rather than one from the SWAC.

Knight is visits Auburn for the second year in a row and it's hard not to feel his interest. Lucedale, Mississippi, is a long way from South Bend, Indiana, but just a stone's throw from the Alabama border. He can make it easy for his family to see him at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where he can likely become a starter by 2026.

Tom Loy from 247Sports reports that he expects a turnaround this weekend. This follows weeks of Notre Dame writers believing Knight is as good as gone every moment.

If the Tigers can pull off a clear win – AU are two-point favorites, so a convincing double-digit victory would be just what they need – and turn Knight around, Freeze will undoubtedly be in the best form of any coach in the sport.

Even in 2023 with Freeze on board, Cal was a tough opponent. In defense of Freeze and Co., they were headed to Berkeley, California, but the Tigers' lack of success lent credibility to Jaydn Ott when he said Auburn doesn't look the same on film as it used to.

However, this was the case with Freeze's predecessor, although Freeze tried to undo the damage.

Now AU once again resembles the recruiting and playing field stronghold on which it built its reputation in the decades before Bryan Harsin came to town and rejected any work outside of holding practices such as recruiting, relationship building and everything else that goes into establishing a winning culture.

With the clear favorite against Cal and the prospect of replacing a top-notch Notre Dame quarterback, Auburn is in the right place in the world of college football.