Hugh Freeze calls out 9-game SEC schedule: 'Were the Packers available?'

SEC coaches getting a first look at schedules with nine conference games are bringing out similar reactions. Everyone believes it’s going to be tough to get results on a consistent basis. Auburn‘s Hugh Freeze joked about how the SEC might as well get some high-level NFL teams on the schedule.

“Were the Packers available?” Freeze asked. “Can we get them? And maybe the Chiefs?”

Playing a tough schedule is nothing new for Auburn, even when only eight SEC games were played. Facing both Alabama and Georgia on an annual basis is no joke in any era, let alone one where Nick Saban and Kirby Smart co-existed. Freeze continues to get them and now adds Vanderbilt for the next four years.

But with the ninth game added, Freeze admits there are no easy schedules out there. Every single SEC gets a difficult slate, every single year, no matter the circumstances. Freeze says expectations among fan bases might need to be recalibrated moving forward, even if there is some excitement.

“Then, you look at everyone and the schedules are equally as hard and difficult,” Freeze said. “It’s kind of exciting. I think it’s going to be exciting for fans. I do say this all the time… I do think that the mindset of everybody has to be more like the NFL. This league, the days of a team being dominant — 8-4 is good. 9-3 can be really good. 10-2 is like off the charts. When you look at those schedules and then you add in, you’re going to play another quality opponent in another power four conference, it’s going to be really good for the fans and exciting.”

Auburn has some work to do when it comes to its nonconfernece schedule. Baylor makes a return trip to the Plains next season for the back-end of a home-and-home series. As of now, an opponent needs to be added for 2027 and 2028. The following two years have the Tigers playing the Miami Hurricanes.

Looking at the present, Freeze is attempting to get through the 2025 SEC schedule. They started play with a loss in Norman to Oklahoma and now head to College Station on Saturday for a big-time matchup against Texas A&M. Freeze would be the first to tell you the eight-game schedule is not easy either.

It’s only going to get more difficult from here, though. But for now, no word on whether or not the Packers or Chiefs are available.