Jordan-Hare Stadium let Auburn University's athletic department and booster class know loud and clear on Saturday night, after a 10-3 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats, what they thought of Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze.
They want him gone. 86,000-plus people chanting "Fire Hugh" in unison is not exactly the Da Vinci Code.
Freeze must not care what anyone thinks. His response was the usual "we're close" coach-speak, but it was particularly offensive given the circumstances.
"We have failed to do that this year and it's frustrating. I still believe we're really close... and it's sickening that we haven't delivered," Freeze said postgame.
No. You're not close. You've let the quarterback competition bleed into Week 10. Your team, which, on paper, should be one of the most talented in the SEC, just lost as a double-digit favorite, at home, under the lights, to Kentucky.
AU is closer to the pre-2024 Vanderbilt Commodores than anything Freeze believes fans expect "close" to mean. The Tigers are enduring their worst stretch of football since the end of World War II.
Don't you dare sit there and say you're close.
Hugh Freeze should be fired any second
And to think the Auburn family let their guard down after a 33-24 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks that looks straight-up unexplainable in hindsight after what we all saw against the Wildcats.
Even though the LSU Tigers, Florida Gators, Arkansas, Penn State Nittany Lions, and Virginia Tech Hokies are all open head coaching jobs, doesn't mean AU should hold off before entering their coaching search.
That was before the loss to Kentucky. Before any hope of reaching a bowl game was practically erased in one fell swoop.
Freeze shouldn't go on in this seat. He has recruited well, but all that glitters is not gold. Blue-chip recruits aren't special when their coach can't scheme them opportunities on offense. Auburn isn't special when he's in charge.
That's sacrilege. It's wrong.
Your move, John Cohen. Your very urgent move to make ASAP, before this fanbase fully implodes.