Did Hugh Freeze improve Auburn? The Iron Bowl loss to Alabama is the last missed opportunity

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Hugh Freeze didn’t move much during the two-minute warning at the end of Auburn’s Iron Bowl loss to Alabama.

He stood alone on the sideline at Bryant-Denny Stadium. He crossed his arms and opened them again. He raised his hand to his hip and lowered it again. He paced up and down a meter or two here and there.

On Saturday, he had no choice but to wait for 100,000 fans to stop singing “Dixieland Delight” so that the final seconds could pass for the merciful end to an anxious year.

“Obviously it was a disappointing game tonight,” Freeze said after No. 13 Alabama’s 28-14 win. “Disappointing season.”

The disappointing game was a worthy end to this disappointing season. Another series of missed opportunities in a fall that was full of them for a 5-7 Auburn team that won just two games in the SEC.

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The problems on Saturday were missed scoring opportunities. Four times in the first half, Auburn drove inside Alabama’s 21-yard line. The Tigers scored six points. They missed a field goal, committed two false starts, negated a fade, dropped a pass, gave up pressure on a fourth-down miss and had three stuffed rushes inside the 2. Freeze was still stewing over the last one after the game; It was his job to pick up the pace for a run that Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell nixed.

Circumstances made the missteps even worse. Three of those chances came after Alabama lost the ball, a rare reversal of a years-long trend.

“It’ll be in your stomach,” Freeze said.

Add it to the list:

• There were five turnovers against Cal, including a fumble that led to the game-winning touchdown in a 21-14 loss.
• Five more turnovers in a 10-point loss to Arkansas.
• A 63-yard pick six from Oklahoma that helped Auburn blow an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
• His team’s 14-point second-half lead evaporated against Missouri after quarterback Brady Cook returned from the hospital.
• A rarely seen leverage penalty on a field goal and a late fumble in a loss to Vanderbilt.

“The season didn’t go the way we expected,” Auburn defensive end Keldric Faulk said.

The same goes for the previous season, a 6-7 season best remembered for Auburn being on the wrong end of one of the greatest plays in recent memory: “Gravedigger,” the Iron Bowl touchdown pass with the fourth and 31st win that Jalen Milroe scored in the last minute against Isaiah Bond.

That’s not how things should work with Freeze.

At Ole Miss, he became just the second SEC coach to beat Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide in back-to-back years (2014-15). He is 0-2 at Auburn.

Freeze won with a Rebels squad that lacked Alabama’s elite depth. He’s now lost to a Kalen DeBoer-led Alabama team that only vaguely resembles one of Saban’s juggernauts.

Kalen DeBoer won his first Iron Bowl against Hugh Freeze. (Jason Clark/Getty Images)

Saban passed away after retiring in January. On Saturday, he was only visible on the packed fans’ televisions as a “College GameDay” analyst, unless you count his name on the field or the statue in front of the stadium – the one with the line of fans standing on the There was a search for photos and there seemed to be no end.

This version of the Crimson Tide is good but not great, making their College Football Playoff case more dubious than solid. They lost to traditional doormat Vanderbilt and one of the worst Oklahoma teams of the last quarter century.

Then again, so did Auburn.

The Tigers were talking about a big game after the biggest win of Freeze’s tenure, the quadruple overtime upset win over No. 16 Texas A&M last week. Freshman linebacker Demarcus Riddick promised he wouldn’t lose to Alabama during his career and said he was just as fast as Milroe.

That was before Milroe rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite the relative weaknesses of this Alabama team, Auburn still struggled with a talent gap. Freeze didn’t say that directly, but he did point to the top-five recruiting classes that some of this season’s opponents have fielded against Auburn (which has only had one top-10 class in the last four cycles).

“Nobody really wants to hear that,” Freeze said. “I know it’s true. But at the same time we had chances to win games with who we are.”

Who exactly are these Tigers after the first two seasons of Freeze?

They are part of the worst phase in the program’s recent history. Including Bryan Harsin’s tenure, Auburn has had four straight losing seasons for the first time since 1946-50. It has lost five straight Iron Bowls for the first time since 1973-81. It is a top-40 team in expanded metrics but will not play in December.

Freeze’s $20 million acquisition makes a coaching change unlikely. But its findings make for some uncomfortable conversations and insights.

His 11-14 record in two seasons matches that of Gene Chizik in the two seasons after he led the Tigers to the 2010 national title. This slide got Chizik fired. Freeze’s record is also worse than the 15-8 run that sent off Gus Malzahn. His winning percentage (.440) is only slightly better than what Harsin posted before his sophomore year (.429).

The saving grace, if there is one, is the young talent Freeze has amassed. Auburn’s only touchdown was a 29-yard catch by Cam Coleman, a top-five recruit in last year’s class. Two of Alabama’s fumbles were forced by young players – freshman defensive back Kaleb Harris and Faulk, the top recruit in Freeze’s first class.

And Freeze was already excited about the class he’ll be signing on Wednesday. As of Saturday night, it’s on pace to be the Tigers’ highest-rated yield in the 247Sports Composite since 2011. It is in fifth place.

Three points below Alabama.

(Top photo: Jason Clark / Getty Images)