SB: Auburn football HC Hugh Freeze returning to SEC West ‘hits like a truck’
The return of Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze to the SEC West is something that Saturday Blitz’ Austin Lloyd believes ‘hits like a truck.’ Lloyd said as much during a game-by-game breakdown of the Tigers’ 2023 schedule.
“To any remotely modern football fan, the news of Hugh Freeze making his way to the SEC West hits like a truck, as he is not exactly a no-name in that neighborhood,” Lloyd said, referring to Freeze’s time as Ole Miss head coach from 2012-2016.
To Lloyd, the 2023 Auburn football season is ‘a story that all of America should be eager to follow,’ but did the Saturday Blitz writer project the Tigers to take a meaningful step forward in the first year of the Freeze era on the Plains?
Saturday Blitz bearish on Auburn football in 2023
A step forward was projected for the Tigers under Freeze in 2023 by Saturday Blitz, but calling it a meaningful one would be optimistic. Lloyd penciled in six wins and six losses on the season for Auburn, which would at least constitute a return to automatic bowl eligibility.
Lloyd sees the Tigers continuing to taking care of business in non-conference play but struggling against Texas A&M at Kyle Field once again after losing their 2021 matchup following four straight wins to start off the soon-to-be-dying SEC West rivalry, and also sees Auburn returning to its losing ways in Death Valley. Losses to Alabama and Georgia are expected by just about everyone, but losses to Ole Miss at home and Arkansas would be mild shockers.
Eight wins is a realistic ceiling in 2023, with seven losses as a realistic floor
It’s been a few years in a row where Fly War Eagle has been optimistic about the Tigers winning eight games. With the quarterback room still lacking a bona fide star option since Bo Nix transferred to Oregon, and the defense losing key leaders like Derick Hall and Colby Wooden in the trenches, hovering around .500 does seem realistic.
Still, Freeze seems more capable of tapping into the Jordan-Hare voodoo Bryan Harsin’s teams frequently seemed to be on the wrong side of. Eight wins is the ceiling — this is subject to change if Freeze’s coordinator hires pan out from a schematic standpoint — and seven wins is the floor — and hopefully this will only increase as the season goes on.