Hugh Freeze: ‘I’m going to die trying’ to get effort out of Auburn players

The Auburn Tigers did not expect to be 2-4 heading into their bye week. But that’s where they find themselves after suffering a 31-13 loss to Georgia on the road last weekend. Starting off SEC play 0-3 for the second straight season under Hugh Freeze.

Recently Freeze has faced some criticism for how he’s managed Auburn’s offense and more specifically the quarterback position in his second year at the helm. But following Saturday’s loss, effort seemed to be the department where he felt the Tigers fell short.

“Well truthfully, I expect more fight than what we saw for the 60 minutes today,” Freeze said after Saturday’s game. “I told them that in the locker room, I mean it, and it’s my job to get that out of them, and I’m going to die trying. We’re going to get it turned and going to find the ones who want to fight for 60 minutes.”

Auburn responded with the first score of the second half to bring themselves within four points of Georgia’s 14-10 lead. Followed by the Bulldogs outscoring Auburn 17-3 to close out the game, where Freeze believed their effort started lacking but also took responsibility for the play of his team.

“I thought they fought hard for most of the game, but we want to fight for 60 minutes to give us a chance and it seemed like them putting the game away was a was a little easier than I’d hoped. Particularly converting some,” Freeze said.

“But it really goes back to us coaching better and we’re playing a lot of young kids out there. I mean we got Kensley Faustin out there tonight and he’s lined up outside tip of of a receiver on third down and he needed to be inside tip,” Freeze explained. “And those are the things that I keep feeling like we’re doing to ourselves.

The best leaders take accountability, which Freeze is clearly doing following Auburn’s sluggish start. As he’ll look to improve his team from within during the bye week ahead of a road matchup against No. 21 Missouri next weekend.

“We as coaches have got to expect more of ourselves to put them in position in those moments to make those plays to give us a fighting chance to experience the victories that we so badly desire,” Freeze concluded.