Hugh Freeze didn't travel with his Auburn football team to Kentucky

Hugh Freeze didn't travel with his Auburn football team to Lexington, Kentucky for the Tigers' Week 9 matchup with the Wildcats on Friday. Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, Freeze will still be present at Kroger Field, but an illness caused him to make the trip Saturday morning instead.

"Sources: Auburn coach Hugh Freeze is battling an illness — potentially food poisoning — and didn’t travel with the team to Kentucky yesterday," Thamel prefaced before saying, "He’s flying up to Lexington this morning and is expected to coach."

Freeze's seat has been hot amidst a four-game losing streak in SEC play. Kentucky represents one of the last winnable games on Auburn's schedule. Obviously, hearing that Freeze is under the weather is concerning to Tiger fans.

But Freeze has a history of being under the weather and still giving his all.

Hugh Freeze went viral in 2019 coaching Liberty against Syracuse from a hospital bed

In Week 1 of the 2019 season, Freeze coached from a hospital bed as Liberty's head coach after undergoing surgery to treat a potentially life-threatening staph infection just two weeks earlier. Freeze conducted his staff meetings from the hospital but decided to coach the Flames' game against Syracuse from a radio booth in the press box

The act of defiance was a symbol of Freeze's love of the game. Liberty lost 24-0 but would go on to become one of college football's best Group of 5 teams from 2020-2022 before he took the Auburn job.

AU needs a win. They can't afford a loss and corresponding moral victory. Freeze just claimed he had to coach his guys harder before this medical episode.

The circumstances are setting up either a heroic tale of overcoming the odds and getting a much-needed win on the road, or there's already a built-in excuse for Auburn's sixth loss of the season.