Hugh Freeze reacts to earning first SEC win against Mississippi State

After a painful stretch to begin SEC play, Hugh Freeze has notched his first SEC win as the head coach at Auburn. The Tigers earned a 27-13 victory against Mississippi State at home on Saturday, using a big game from quarterback Payton Thorne to pull away.

The Auburn QB finished the day 20-of-26 (76.9%) passing for 230 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Speaking postgame with SEC Network, Freeze attempted to put into words just what it meant to finally get over the hump for his first conference win.

“They come to work every day,” he said. “It’s good. Listen, our first SEC win at Auburn. They don’t come easy in this league and they didn’t come easy in the second half. Really proud of the way they prepared. Our coaches and our players. Our fans are incredible. We’ve got a big homefield advantage here.”

Thorne threw touchdowns on the opening two drives of the game to put the Tigers up 14-3 to start the game. He found Ja’Varrius Johnson on a 45-yard score during the second drive that seemed to be a turning point in the contest.

Auburn never trailed in the contest, at one point leading 24-3 on its way to the win. The Tigers also received a big day rushing from running back Jarquez Hunter, who finished with with 144 yards on the ground.

It was Payne who paced the team throughout the game, however. For a Tigers team that had ranked last in the SEC in passing yards per game (151.0) prior to that point, it was a big turning point.

“He was solid,” Freeze said. “I don’t know what his numbers were, but he was really solid. It was his to take. If he hadn’t it would’ve gone another direction. But he did well. I’m really proud for him. Obviously, quarterbacks take a lot of criticism sometimes. I understand coaches get it and you hate to see the kids get it. So it’s good to see him play well.”

For Freeze, who took over as head coach this offseason after four season at Liberty with SEC experience, it was a critical moment in his tenure with the Tigers. Auburn faced ranked opponents in three of their first four conference games to start the year, but finally showed what it is capable of against a team of equal caliber.

“We’ve been through a very difficult stretch,” Freeze said. “You look ahead and you think, ‘if we can just get some momentum, we can really turn this around and give us some momentum heading into the offseason.’ That’s our hope. We’ve got to come a go to work. We’ve got two on the road in this league, which are always difficult.”

Next up, Hugh Freeze and Auburn hit the road to face Vanderbilt at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. Freeze and the team will aim to carry this momentum into what is a winnable stretch of three games coming up.