Observations: Georgia 20, Auburn 10
Now officially at the halfway point of his third year in charge, Hugh Freeze says the Tigers still don't know how to win. Yikes.
AUBURN — The head coach identified his team’s biggest problem in the very first sentence of his postgame press conference.
“I think it’s very clear that we find ways to not win football games, and that’s what has to change,” he said.
If you read that quote completely out of context, you might guess that head coach has a rebuild on his hands. He has taken over a team that has to learn how to win.
The head coach goes on to say that he needs to be “creating a mentality that believes you’re going to and finding ways to do your assignment when it’s called on in critical moments.” Later on, he adds that he felt like his team was “not believing — really believing — you’re going to win the football game” on the sidelines.
That’s what you might expect to hear from a head coach still new to the job, yes? Still in the early days of his efforts? Maybe he needs time to implement his systems and get his preferred roster in place?
Those quotes were not from that kind of head coach.
Instead, those quotes were from Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze, who is now officially halfway through his third year on the job. By his own admission, the team that Freeze has led for 31 games does not know how to win games.
Here’s more proof, directly from Freeze: “I felt like we were going to win the game. Here I am feeling again that we don’t quite know how to do that.”
Those comments from Freeze came after a 20-10 loss to Georgia on Saturday night. Auburn raced out to a 10-0 lead and was on the verge of going up 17-0 late in the first half before a Philadelphia Eagles-esque “tush push” at the goal line was controversially ruled a fumble by Jackson Arnold and not a touchdown.
At that moment, Auburn had out-gained Georgia 237-20. The Tigers had more first downs than the Bulldogs had offensive plays. This was dominance from a team that needed this type of performance in front of a fan base that was starving for a signature win against a bitter rival it hadn’t beaten since 2017.
Freeze said afterwards that the halftime locker room was still upbeat after the finish to the first half, when what could have been a three-score lead was just at one. His message was a hopeful one.
“Let’s go win the game,” Freeze said. “I mean, they haven’t stopped us yet, you know? We could’ve easily had 21 points at half. You’re sitting there with 10. And I felt our defense played outstanding, other than that last drive, where they got three points right before the half.
“Really felt like we were gonna still win the football game, because I thought we had dominated the first half.”
But, from that fumble to the end of the game, Georgia out-gained Auburn 276-40. The Bulldogs had 18 first downs to the Tigers’ three — and two of those came when Auburn was already down by two scores late. This was a complete implosion from a team that does this way too often in front of a fan base that has seen it way too much.
“Some of the credit goes to Georgia for the second half, too, but I don’t know,” Freeze said. “It didn’t look like we played with the same physicality and energy, maybe.”
I don’t know. Maybe. It’s a head coach who sounds like he’s still searching for answers more than 30 games into his tenure. It’s also a head coach who is now three games under .500 overall and has now lost almost as many SEC games (14) as he’s won (5). It’s also a head coach who is now 2-11 in games decided by 10 points or less.
And it’s also a head coach who is now the first one in the modern era of Auburn football to lose each of his first five games against Georgia and Alabama.
Freeze hasn’t used any “talent gap” excuse in Year 3. He signed back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes and strong transfer portal hauls. Georgia might be a better roster on paper, but Auburn is much better than the team two years ago that at least scored 20 points and cracked 300 yards of offense.
“I don’t care what nobody else says, but we were a better football team than they were,” All-SEC defensive end Keldric Faulk said afterwards. “Talent-wise, we matched up with them great, but we were a better football team. You could tell in that first half, we were the better football team.”
But while Auburn crumbled in the face of adversity Saturday night, Georgia rallied. The Bulldogs showcased their championship DNA under Kirby Smart, taking advantage of the breaks they got and the ones they created for themselves.
It stings even more for Auburn, knowing that it missed a golden opportunity to beat a top-10 opponent at home.
And, because context matters, this came on Saturday in which another top-10 team — led by a second-year head coach, with the No. 72-ranked roster in the country — went on the road and beat a top-5 team with a top-5 roster.
That head coach once famously declared “I win.”
This head coach is saying his team just doesn’t know how to do that.
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 20-10 loss to Georgia, along with the Quote of the Night.
