Hugh Freeze battling illness, expected to coach Auburn vs. Kentucky

Auburn’s Hugh Freeze will still coach Saturday against Kentucky despite reportedly battling an illness, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed that Freeze is “certainly expected to coach” on Saturday.

“Sources: Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is battling an illness — potentially food poisoning — and didn’t travel with the team to Kentucky yesterday,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “He’s flying up to Lexington this morning and is expected to coach.”

Whatever Freeze potentially ate, it seems to have subsided and he’ll be in Lexington in time to coach the Tigers against the Wildcats.

Auburn is 2-5 under Freeze this season and it’s been a tough road to this point. After Kentucky, they’ll get ranked matchups against Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Alabama out of their last four games.

With that slow first half of the year, Freeze took some time to consider the approach of the team and coaches, emphasizing that the team wants to be playing to win and not playing not to lose.

“It’s how you want it to be,” Freeze said. “You want to feel that way all the time, but you want to have the confidence and certainly want to do what’s right for your current team to give them the best chance to win.”

In Auburn’s most recent game, a close loss to Missouri, it seemed like the Tigers had a chance to win. At one point in the second half, Auburn even had a two-score lead and Missouri quarterback Brady Cook was battling an injury. Still, Missouri came from behind to win.

“It’s just like what I was saying a while ago on the very last possession that we had,” Freeze said. “I really wanted on the first play to take a shot and go for the kill. I really did, and I really think it was a good play and a good call. You also just had defense that stoned them on three and out inside the 5-yard line and we haven’t always taken care of the ball or protected when I feel free and loose all the time. So, all of those things are in your mind, so I obviously reverted to our best player in 27 [Jarquez Hunter], and then ended up having to punt and putting in our defense again, which I didn’t mind doing at that point because they were playing so well.

“Brady Cook did a great job of extending plays. The penalty hurt us also. Missed a line by a freshman corner on the third and 10 really hurt on that last drive.”