Sell stock in Auburn football's Hugh Freeze, and consider reinvesting in Dabo Swinney

Dump your stock in Hugh Freeze, hold off before hitching the farm to Michigan and consider reinvesting in the promise of Clemson and Dabo Swinney after Week 4.

The Wolverines celebrated a win after passing for 32 yards. Even after coast-to-coast expansion, the Big Ten brand flourishes. Separation forms in the SEC, but how much playoff room exists at the top for the cream?

Auburn isn’t among that cream. Misery permeates the Plains, with the prospect of a fourth consecutive losing season. In the ACC, ample room exists for Clemson to land a few more elbows in a conference where everyone still chases Miami.

Let’s consider some burning questions.

Is Michigan football back to being a bully?

Sort of. The Wolverines showed they can still push around physically inferior opponents. That doesn’t mean a rematch against Texas would go much differently. Michigan would need a semblance of a passing game to become a national championship contender, but the Wolverines rediscovered their identity by pushing around Southern California in a 27-24 victory. And Kalel Mullings filled the void of bell-cow tailback.

Trouble is, Michigan faces a brutal schedule. The Wolverines will play No. 21 Illinois, No. 7 Oregon and No. 3 Ohio State, plus tricky road games against unranked Washington and Indiana. To retain playoff hopes, Michigan (3-1) can’t lose more than once while navigating that minefield.

It sure would help to be able to complete a forward pass.

Did Dabo Swinney figure out Clemson’s offense?

He figured out how to torch bad teams, anyway.

Look, we haven’t seen Clemson face another quality opponent since Georgia turned the screws on the Tigers in the season opener. Appalachian State is bad, and North Carolina State has struggled all year, so while Clemson’s offensive outburst against those teams restored some confidence, let’s reserve further judgement until Clemson plays at Florida State on Oct. 5. The Seminoles are limited on offense, but they’re sturdy on defense.

It's possible, though, that Clemson’s blowout loss in Week 1 said more about Georgia’s defense than it did about Clemson’s offense. The FSU game will test of that theory.

Time to sell stock in Hugh Freeze at Auburn?

Yes. Freeze is 13-16 in his last three seasons as an SEC coach, dating to the end of his Ole Miss tenure. The bloom fell off the rose.

Freeze brought tempo and run-pass option plays to the SEC more than a decade ago at Ole Miss. That, plus his staff’s NCAA rule-breaking ways, spurred the Rebels to success before NCAA suits descended on his program and ended the good times.

In Freeze's second SEC tour, he's surrendered his guru status. He can’t develop a quarterback at Auburn, and the chickens are home roosting after Freeze turned up his nose at the portal and decided not to invest in a transfer quarterback before this season.

Former quarterback Bo Wallace, one of Freeze’s best players from his Ole Miss tenure, eviscerated Freeze in a series of social media posts after Auburn’s loss to Arkansas, in which the Tigers committed five turnovers. Wallace correctly pointed out that Freeze tends to shift blame onto his players after losses and that he’s not the quarterback whisperer some made him out to be earlier in his career.

Throughout Freeze’s career, his quarterbacks have proven prone to turnovers. Auburn’s 14 turnovers this season lead the nation, a development that at least partially stems from Freeze's decision to roll with a lackluster batch of quarterbacks rather than hook a transfer.

Freeze recruits well, but it’s not enough to sign a bundle of four-star prospects within a landscape where half the SEC programs recruit like monsters.

This version of the SEC is different than the one Freeze left. This is now the conference of elite quarterbacks. Offensive thinking came a long way. Freeze went from looking cutting edge to seeming left behind. That won’t change if he can’t attract and develop premier quarterbacks.

Will the SEC qualify six playoff teams?

Plausible, but unlikely.

Six SEC teams (Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Missouri) are undefeated and ranked inside the top 11, and one-loss LSU remains in the hunt, too. But, a couple of pretenders probably will emerge as we wade deeper into conference play.

Anyway, even if the SEC finishes with six teams at 10-2 or better, that doesn’t mean the selection committee must find spots for all of them. In that scenario, a team with like Missouri, with a squishy strength of schedule and a lack of style points, might need to finish at least 11-1 to earn a playoff invite.

Six SEC teams to the playoff is in play, but five remains a likelier number.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

Subscribe to read all of his columns. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, and newsletter, SEC Unfiltered.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sell stock in Hugh Freeze, and consider reinvesting in Dabo Swinney