The pressure cooker expectations on Hugh Freeze are not going away anytime soon — not unless he manages to impress Auburn fans with some majestic wins this season. Friday is his first chance to do so and get off the hot seat while he is at it.
CBS Sports' inside source shared that one way to go about it would be getting a particular number of wins this season.
"A bowl game -- just six wins -- would not inspire a lot of confidence here," one source close to the program told CBS Sports. "That source pegged the bar at eight wins."
An eight-win season is usually not a bar set too high. But when talking about a program that is coming off consecutive seven-loss campaigns, it is.
All of this is why a season-opening win against Baylor looks like a must-win for Freeze; it would be the perfect first step for the AU team to live up to all the expectations placed on them.
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum seems to be on board with the record that the CBS Insider has deemed the minimum for Auburn. Finebaum believes "8-4 would be considered a reasonable record. I think that is doable."
It is doable, sure, if they don't let their schedule sneak up on them. The Tigers are predicted to have a lot of close-call games this season, based on the teams they face in their schedule. Losses, even by minuscule margins, would come back to haunt Freeze and his team in the end.
When asked about it, Freeze had a simple philosophy to follow: "Hopefully, we flip some of those close losses into wins. … A proverb a day keeps stupid away, and hopefully that impacts all of us in life and in football."