Hugh Freeze reacts postgame: 'We didn't play good enough in the critical moments'
AUBURN — Hugh Freeze was as dejected as he’s been all season following Auburn’s 27-24 loss to No. 8 Alabama.
It’s understandable. The Tigers let an Iron Bowl win slip through their fingers for the second straight time inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. In 2021, it was a 10-0 Auburn lead that disappeared and resulted in a four-overtime loss. On Saturday night, it was a 4th-and-31 that resulted in a miracle touchdown by Alabama that again doomed a first-year Auburn head coach.
“Obviously, it stinks to not get the win tonight,” Freeze said. “We didn’t play good enough in the critical moments. We had a turnover, probably three minutes to go, four minutes to go, then obviously didn’t execute fourth-and-whatever it was there. There’s a lot of hurt in that locker room and it stings. The kids gave themselves a chance to win the Iron Bowl tonight and it’s going to stick with us for awhile.”
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Read more of what Freeze said postgame below:
One week ago, Auburn lost by 21 points to New Mexico State after being 25-point favorites. It was arguably the worst Auburn loss in 45 years. Nobody gave Auburn a shot, but we all should have learned our lesson after the 2021 game. The Iron Bowl inside Jordan-Hare Stadium always means Auburn has a shot.
“I’m proud of how our kids fought and prepared. That’s how an Auburn Tiger should do it. Every single week. Obviously, it’s easier when you’re playing in this magnificent, awesome rivalry, but it makes the hurt that much more when you don’t get it done. I’m proud of the way they fought and bounced back. I thought they executed our plan pretty well and gave us a chance to win the game.”
What went into the decision to not pressure Jalen Milroe on 4th-and-31 with under a minute remaining?
“Second-guess it, but you have to play with vision. We have nine guys back there and play with vision, make a play on the ball and knock it down. (James) felt like he was shoved off, but I couldn’t tell. You can pressure him and then you have one-on-ones and then they can throw it up, if you want, or you can play, I like the call. We just have to sit back there with vision and knock the ball down.”
Freeze was asked postgame about whether it was Keionte Scott or Koy Moore returning the punt in the final minutes. Freeze first thought it was Scott, but was later corrected that it was Moore. They both wear zero.
So, what happened on Moore’s muffed punt then?
“Was it Koy? I thought it was Keionte. I’ll have to ask Tanner (Burns). It would have to be Keionte. He must have taken himself out.”
That was the extent of the answer.
Freeze was asked what he said to the team following that loss. Admittedly, finding the right words in that moment is tough.
“I don’t think any coach can find the right words. You tell them you love them, that we will learn from it and get through it, but it’s going to hurt. There’s no way around it. You’re going to have to walk through the hurt.”
Despite the numbers, Payton Thorne played with guts and toughness, passing the ball for 91 yards on five completions (multiple drops) and rushing the ball 15 times for 57 yards.
“I don’t think we changed anything, it was all still in the game plan. I didn’t think he threw real accurate balls a couple of times in the first half. There were drops, too. All of those are so magnified in this game. He did play a really good second half, I thought.”
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Auburn ran the ball for 244 yards and two touchdowns against an Alabama defense allowing 117 yards per game on the ground.
“We had a good plan. They do have a really good front. Our backs, tight ends and O-line took it personal, we knew we had to run the football to win this game. I thought we ran it well enough to win it. We just came up short.”
Ja’Varrius Johnson continued to shine as Auburn’s only consistent playmaking threat at wide receiver. He finished with 88 total yards and two touchdowns in the game.
“He was vital to the plan. Once he decided this year that he was going to adhere to the standards that we want of how we want to go about our work, he’s gotten better and better. That’s good to see for him.”
The result was brutal, but with a “plethora” of talented recruits on campus as Freeze said earlier this week, the atmosphere inside Jordan-Hare Stadium was exactly what Freeze and co. wanted to see to impress recruits and build for the future.
“We have the best fans in the country and that atmosphere tonight was off the charts, best I’ve ever been a part of. I just wish we were out there celebrating right now together. We have some good recruits here and hopefully they see even in year one, we’re not, we can close the gap pretty fast on the upper echelon of this conference.”
Freeze’s first season ends with a 6-6 regular season with a 7-point loss to No. 1 Georgia and a 3-point loss to No. 8 Alabama. Recruiting seems to be producing better results so far though, as Freeze believes strongly in the direction of the Tigers’ program.
“If you isolate it to those two games, you’ve done some good things, but it’s hard — we get judged in this game on wins and losses. We all know that when we get signed up for it. When you have the chance to win one like that, against a team playing for the conference championship next week and our rival, it’s hard to feel anything but hurt and disappointment. You wish you were out there with the Auburn faithful celebrating an Iron Bowl win in Jordan-Hare.”
In the aftermath of the loss, Freeze was asked what the vision for Auburn football looks like?
“We’re going to be one of the elite programs in the country. I didn’t have a vision for this year other than to try and get us to a bowl game and improve us from week to week. I can’t say every week I’ve felt like that, and that’s why you are hard on yourself as a coach. We have to look at ourselves every single day and are we demanding a standard that’s going to get us to that elite status. That combined with recruiting classes that are comparable to the upper echelon. We can’t recruit in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, and expect to all of a sudden and be great coaches. It’s a combination. You have to coach to a certain standard and you have to recruit somewhere close to a level the way those guys and some others in this league are.”
