Hugh Freeze's Auburn football program broke through for their biggest win of the 2024 season in Week 13, outlasting Texas A&M in a 43-41 four-overtime thriller. After the Tigers defense batted away a Marcel Reed pass in the end zone that would've tied the game at 43, Freeze celebrated his players for fighting through a difficult season to deliver a major win in the 2024 Jordan-Hare Stadium finale.
"I'm just so happy for our fans and our kids. Our kids have fought all year and we've been in so many close ones and it just hadn't gone our way..and man.. just for one to finally go our way is pretty sweet.. against a really good football team," Freeze said (h/t WSFA 12's Rosie Langello).
This has been an unrewarding season on the Plains to say the least. Before Week 13, AU's signature win was against Kentucky on the road; which happened to be their only SEC win on the season before November 23. Otherwise, they had wins over Group of 5 schools ULM and New Mexico, and Alabama A&M from the FCS.
Notching Freeze's first ranked win at Auburn gives Tiger fans something to hold onto heading into the 2025 season. While there's a top-five recruiting class coming, there wasn't confidence that meant signature wins too.
AU defeating the Aggies for a second straight time at Jordan-Hare Stadium under the lights, in an unforgettable game like Cadillac Williams's JHS coaching debut in 2022, proves that this program is not far from turning a corner.