All things considered, head coach Hugh Freeze is having a hell of a first year with the Auburn football team. Of course there is the culture he is creating and the fire he and the staff are setting on the recruiting trail, but the team is also having real success on the playing field.
The 2023 season started off strong with the Tigers taking care of non-conference play with three straight wins before going on a four-game skid to kick off the SEC slate. While it was frustrating and disappointing, Freeze told us this was going to happen. The Tigers’ head coach said that the team was going to get “baptized into the SEC” and pointed out the talent gaps between Auburn football and the likes of LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Ole Miss.
Though they are L’s in the record book, there were small wins in the big losses. For example, the Tigers have played #1 Georgia closer than any other team this season after losing by only one touchdown. The closest comparison comes from Missouri, who lost by nine points earlier this month.
But those four losses led the coaching staff and eventually the offense to a turning point, per Auburn Undercover, that has effectively changed the way the Tigers conduct their offense and call plays:
"“I may call some, Philip may call some, Jake may call some. Who cares?” Freeze said. “Look, the responsibility lies with me if we play well or we don’t. We had a dang chance to win a few other games, and I wish I had put my foot down earlier and said, ‘This is the only thing I feel comfortable being able to help. If we operate like this, I can help.’“And that’s probably the turning point.”"
Moving forward, it appears that it doesn’t matter who is the designated play caller; instead, the coaching staff will be working together to make the best possible decisions to put Auburn football in position to win football games, and that’s what matters.