Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze and AD John Cohen did something on Saturday in a 31-15 win over the South Alabama Jaguars that Alabama Crimson Tide AD Greg Byrne, Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban, and every University of Alabama regime before them, dating back to 1944, has refused to do:
Face an in-state foe in a game other than the Iron Bowl.
The Crimson Tide has been stingy about paying out non-conference sums to South, the UAB Blazers, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, the Alabama State Hornets, the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, and the Samford Bulldogs since that 1944 battle between UAB and UAT. Auburn has played all of them since then.
Neither Yellowhammer SEC power has scheduled the Troy Trojans, though. That needs to be fixed ASAP.
Regardless, The TimesDaily's Doug Segrest, via the Decatur Daily, lauded Freeze and Cohen for stepping up and being vulnerable against a school from talent-rich Mobile that was a tough out under former USA head coach Kane Wommack, now the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator, and current headman Major Applewhite. Segrest believes there's a chance Freeze's Tigers may be better off for it.
"...athletic director John Cohen and coach Hugh Freeze deserve credit for playing a foe from within the state boundaries. Especially when it’s one with a reputation for shocking Power 4 foes," Segrest wrote.
"A week after nearly chasing down Tulane, USA didn’t shock the newly minted, 24th-ranked Tigers. But they made things a little uncomfortable.
"In some ways, that may be the best outcome for Freeze."
If anything, as Segrest concluded, the South matchup, and more specifically, Jags quarterback Bishop Davenport, revealed that there are issues in Auburn's secondary. And there's no better time in the world to get that together than before facing Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer, followed by Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed. The two had a combined 642 yards this weekend, and their teams scored 42 and 41 points, respectively. Reed's Aggies beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, of note.
AU now has a little less than a week to clean up before a trip to Norman for their first SEC matchup of the season. At least their dress rehearsal went well enough to maintain undefeated momentum, but not too well to get complacent.