Auburn coach Hugh Freeze was struggling to come up with answers Saturday after his team threw away another lead late.
The Tigers led Missouri 17-3 at one point in the third quarter, but Missouri rallied and went ahead for good on a four-yard touchdown run with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter. It marked the second time in three weeks Auburn let a fourth quarter lead slip, having done so against Oklahoma on Sept. 28 as well.
After the game, Freeze took his share of the blame, but offered a fairly brutal assessment of his staff’s performance.
Hugh Freeze:
"We seem to not make the right call as coaches or the right play from time to time in critical moments and that's kind of been the story the whole year"— Peter Rauterkus (@peter_rauterkus) October 19, 2024
“We seem to not make the right call as coaches or the right play from time to time in critical moments and that’s kind of been the story the whole year,” Freeze told reporters.
It’s not exactly a quote that Auburn fans can take heart in. After a 2-1 start, they have lost four in a row, and are winless in SEC play with five games to go in their season. They would have to win four of those games to become bowl eligible, meaning they would have to beat either Alabama or Texas A&M while running the table against everyone else.
Freeze is in his second year at Auburn and things do not appear to be improving for him. The team will struggle to reach last season’s tally of six wins, and Freeze himself appears to be alienating people with his responses to this string of defeats.
