If there is one thing Hugh Freeze wants from his team when entering the Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night, it is for them not to be overconfident.
They have two reasons to be: their last week's 38-24 win against Baylor, and being heavy favorites to win over their next opponent, Ball State, in their upcoming game.
Freeze doesn't want his team to crash and burn simply because of confidence getting into their heads. In his Monday press conference, Freeze revealed the standard he has set for his team to keep them grounded.
"You hope the focus is on us and not a given opponent, and it's on us getting better from last week, and there’s a lot on the film that we can. We don’t have to search for it; it’s there," Freeze said.
"If the leadership of the team truly wants to have a year that we look back on and are pleased with, there’s zero chance of that happening without us understanding that the task at hand is to better ourselves from week one to week two. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is or what people say.
"I’ve had a lot of those that you get into, that’s a dogfight because you didn’t have that mentality. I hope we are at a point in year three that we have some leaders who understand it’s not about anybody other than Auburn and how we should improve each week, regardless of who we are playing."
The strategy looks like the perfect fit for the situation the Tigers are in. Most units of Freeze's squad showed significant improvement from what they were last year, but they need much more to take down their SEC rivals.
It won't be possible if they let some initial wins put them on a high horse and stop their progress. Auburn welcomes Ball State on Sept. 7.