All Eyes on Auburn's Hugh Freeze as Pressure Mounts on the Plains

The Auburn Tigers are set to take on No. 16 Missouri on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Hugh Freeze’s seat has never been hotter than it is right now.

It’s now or never for the third-year head coach, as he enters Week 8 at 3-3 with the Tigers on the cusp of dropping their fourth consecutive game, coming off losses to Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Georgia.

Two of Auburn’s last three outings have ended in a one-score result, and the only outlier came after a second-half collapse by the Tigers against Georgia, who they once led 10-0 earlier in the game.

This year marks the third straight season that Auburn has started 0-3 in conference play, and furthermore, Freeze is the only coach in program history to remain employed after two losing seasons.

“You don’t always win in this league. We knew that when we came here, when we were starting to build, and we’re there. We do have to get different results, and we all knew that when we signed up for it,” Freeze said in a press conference earlier this week. “But anybody that looks at it and doesn’t see that it’s very, very close and attainable really doesn't know what they’re talking about.”

Freeze has consistently pointed to year three as a time stamp in which Auburn can compete with the upper-echelon teams of the SEC, and often requested patience from the fanbase while building the roster from the high school ranks.

Well, two top-10 recruiting classes and a couple of elite transfer portal hauls later, the Tigers have the talent necessary to win these big games that they just haven’t been able to finish in the two and a half seasons that Freeze has been at the helm.

“But we have to get different results,” Freeze said. “And there’s one way to do that — go back to work and get better at learning how to win when we get those opportunities. Hopefully, we get a few breaks that go our way, also. Let’s get in the winning column and see if we can’t get on a run.”

It seems like the most frustrating part for most Auburn fans is the fact that Freeze was supposed to be an offensive mastermind who developed quarterbacks extremely well – many even called him a “quarterback guru.” However, the most detrimental part of the Tigers’ squad this year has been the lack of production on the offensive side of the ball, especially in crunch time.

Auburn compiled a grand total of 40 yards in the second half against the Bulldogs last weekend, 25 of which came on its last drive in garbage time. The Tigers gained just three first downs in the last two quarters of play, and they had only recorded one before their last drive. That’s simply inexcusable when Auburn has a top-10 opponent on the ropes in front of a raucous Jordan-Hare crowd. 

For reference, Auburn posted 237 yards of total offense in the first half and had a legitimate chance to extend its lead to 17-0 if Jackson Arnold hadn’t fumbled on a “tush push” from the one-yard line. The failure to make halftime adjustments against an elite coach like Kirby Smart was evident, and that all falls back on the coaching staff.

Oh, and not to mention, the loss marked the ninth consecutive loss to Georgia, meaning the Tigers haven’t won the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry since 2017.

Freeze currently boasts a 5-14 record against SEC opponents and is 7-16 in Power Four games. Additionally, he claims a 9-9 record at home despite 19 straight Jordan-Hare Stadium sellouts and a fanbase that consistently shows up, creating one of the toughest places to play in the nation.