Freeze the Philosopher on Oklahoma Regrets and Georgia Bulldogs Focus

Hugh Freeze can read a situation in hindsight. The Auburn coach fully understands the magnitude of the mounting losses. After a 2-3 homestand to start the season, the Tigers head to Sanford Stadium to play the Georgia Bulldogs.

Auburn heads deeper into their SEC schedule with more questions than answers. During media availability, Freeze tried to answer a variety of them.

Regrets

The Oklahoma game presented an opportunity to shock a good team. In hindsight, Freeze recognized this. Now, that doesn’t make anything more palatable. The Auburn coach lays out a few occasions where the game needed to go far differently.

“Let’s start, that first half, it easily could’ve been 24-7 at half,” said Freeze. “We get down to the one or two, and two shots from there we went with a package that we’ve worked on for several weeks. I truthfully regret not giving it to Jarquez (Hunter) down there at least once.

You’re going to miss some field goals, but it’d have been nice to have gotten that one right before half, for sure. Certainly, (Towns McGough) is very capable of making those, but that happens. The first half, it’s really not scoring the touchdown, and I thought the offense did a good job getting us in field position to kick a field goal. I thought that was a really good drive. This was a weird situation, but the play right before we had to go mayday, and it was good to see us execute mayday really well.”

Of all of the above stated, the Hunter piece stands out most. Hunter, by far, the most talented back on the roster needed to touch the ball more, during the entire afternoon. Veering away from a proven back for a gimmick formation with a quarterback who hasn’t taken any live snaps all year sinks into the realm of overthinking the obvious. 

The Long Plan

Prevailing thought resides with those that believe Auburn will completely fall apart and struggle to make even the most tertiary of bowl spot. Yet, those games still need playing. Similarly, like most coaches, Freeze attempts to assess the situation, finding a common enemy.

“The media is into this spiraling and keep them together. If that is a question about your team, then you probably are not going to have a whole lot of success,” said Freeze. “In life, you don’t get the chance to spiral and then have success, and it’s the same way in football. That will be my lesson today that I have planned since the summer, which I think is perfect for our moment, and I am going to give some real-life examples of myself.

“At times in life you have to draw the line on what am I really in this for and what did I really sign up for? What happens when you sign up for a job and it doesn’t go the way you want, do you spiral? There is not another option. We get the opportunity this week to go play one of the top teams in the country with a really young, building team, and we see it as a another great opportunity.”

Overview

Auburn lost a game which they should’ve won, plain and simple. Yet, they still need to go on and play and win some games. Regardless of what words uttered or written, the onus stays with the ability of winning more games. Now, the team needs to compartmentalize the ancillary and stick to the matter at hand.

One game at a time is a cliche for a reason. The focus for the Auburn Tigers is Georgia, not trying to play the entire schedule this week.