Over the past 17 years, several head coaches have looked forward to facing Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, Saban’s 29 losses in over two decades in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, meant that only a small percentage of these rival head coaches won what is generally their “biggest game of the year.”
Hugh Freeze, the former Ole Miss and current Auburn coach, is one of only five head coaches to defeat the seven-time national champion (six at Alabama) twice. However, Freeze, who also has four losses against Saban, recently spoke with SEC Network’s Marty Smith and said that he should have won a few more games.
“I mean, honestly, Nick is incredible, but I should have four wins against him,” Freeze said. “We beat him twice and had them 24-3 the third year, and I wasn’t clever enough to slow things down. Last year, it could have easily gone our way. I may not have expressed it correctly, but I want everyone to know that we easily could have beaten him a few more times.
On November 25, 2023 (the latter game to which Freeze was alluding), Auburn muffed a punt, giving Alabama the ball back after trailing 24-20 for much of the fourth quarter. Alabama advanced the ball to first-and-goal, but a botched snap left the Crimson Tide far behind the chains. Then, on fourth down from the 31-yard line, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe connected with wide receiver Isaiah Bond for a touchdown, putting the Crimson Tide up 27-24 with 32 seconds left and subsequently winning the game.
“Not winning the game sucks. It stunk. It was frustrating and difficult, but I didn’t believe our roster was as strong as theirs,” Freeze remarked. “It gave me even more faith that Auburn can quickly return to one of the best programs in the country because we competed with them and should’ve won the game, to be honest. It was a mixed mixture of “This is terrible, but we can play with them.”
Despite his dismal record versus Saban, Marty Smith praised Freeze for “always giving Saban hell” whenever they faced off. Freeze highlighted the secret to his success with Saban on the ropes, as well as how Saban has responded to the game plan.
“Well, at Ole Miss, I think we were one of the first staffs to bring in the tempo RPO world, and he didn’t like that at all and tried to get it changed and all that,” Freeze recalled. Then he started doing it. He’s a dear buddy of mine, for sure, but I see why their calls were so confusing.
Leave a Reply