Hugh Freeze responds to fans questioning if things will change for Auburn

The tensions are rising On The Plains as the Auburn Tigers have now lost three SEC games in a row. Those results aren’t good enough, and head coach Hugh Freeze knows that as he’s feeling his hot seat quickly heat up amid the pressure to win.

Freeze has remained adamant about his staff working through these struggles and continuing to be leaders for this team. Still, there are questions. At a recent press conference, he shared his response to fans who may be questioning how those bad results are going to change at Auburn.

“I can’t control what your expectations are or what theirs are,” Hugh Freeze said. “I know what ours are. Ours are to get ready to go win a football game, just like they were last week. I thought we had a really good plan for our kids to do that.”

Hugh Freeze got to Auburn in 2023. That was after inheriting a team coming off a 5-7 season. Since then, he’s made one bowl, missing a bowl in 2024. He also has a 14-17 record overall and just 5-14 in SEC play. All of that amounts to a multi-year run where the program has sat around .500. At 3-3 this season, fans have some understandable concerns about seeing the same results consistently.

Still, Freeze argued that it’s been a rebuilding process. Along the way, he does also feel his team is getting closer but those struggles are a testament to how difficult it is to win in the SEC.

“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. “But anybody that looks at it and doesn’t see that it’s very, very close and attainable really don’t know what they’re talking about.”

In Auburn’s three SEC games this season, the Tigers are 0-3 with all of their opponents being ranked in the AP Poll at the time they played. Two of the three games were one-score games, and the only two-score loss came against Georgia in a game that Auburn led at the half.

“But we’ve 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.”

In the second half of the season, Auburn will see five more SEC teams. Of those SEC opponents, three are currently ranked in the AP Poll. That starts this Saturday, when the Tigers host Missouri.