AUBURN — Here is the Observation after Auburn’s 10-3 loss to Kentucky on Saturday.
The patience for Hugh Freeze has run out
After his 34th game as the head coach of the Auburn football team — one in which his offense did not score a single touchdown against the second-worst defense in the SEC — Hugh Freeze said he wished he could ask for more patience.
Gene Chizik only got 25 games after he won a national championship.
Freeze, of course, hasn’t come anywhere close to that. In fact, he’s on pace to be the first Auburn head coach in 75 years to win less than 30% of his SEC games here.
And still…
“I wish I could ask for patience,” Freeze said. “But that’s not really something that people want to give in this day and time, and I understand that. I just know we’re so dang close, and if we had a few things go our way earlier in the year, I think we’re looking at a whole different deal.”
Exactly 2.75 seasons into his tenure, Freeze is still waiting and wanting for results more than going out and getting them.
A 10-3 loss to Kentucky ensured that Freeze has 10 more SEC losses (16) than wins (6) at Auburn. It also ensured that he is now multiple games under .500 in Jordan-Hare Stadium and that he is an appalling 2-10 against power-conference teams at home.
“I have said all year long, my job is to get this team ready to play and win games,” Freeze said. “We have failed to do that this year, and it’s frustrating. I still believe we’re really close.”
Close? Still? The only thing that might repeat itself more than Freeze right now is his own history at Auburn.
For the third time in as many seasons, Auburn immediately followed up a road SEC win by completely no-showing back at home against a less-talented opponent.
The first was a blowout loss to New Mexico State, which had been one of the least successful FBS programs of all-time. The second was a low-scoring loss to a Vanderbilt team that, while breaking out, still finished under .500 in SEC play.
The third was an even lower-scoring loss to Kentucky, which entered Jordan-Hare Stadium on a 10-game SEC losing streak.
Kentucky left with a victory, and it only needed 240 offensive yards and a single touchdown to do that — because, no matter how much Auburn likes to talk about how tough it is to win in Jordan-Hare Stadium, it really isn’t all that difficult these days.