Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze drew some criticism for claiming that he should have four wins, not two, against former Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Freeze had said recently that he, between his stints at Auburn and Ole Miss, should have a 4-2 record against Saban, who retired in January. Offered to expand on his comments on the “Paul Finebaum Show,” Freeze elaborated on what he meant.
“Every now and then, you say things that come across the wrong way, and you feel crazy for saying something quite like that, so maybe this part will go viral too: you got to get it done when you have the chances,” Freeze said. “Yes, we had opportunities to have four wins, for sure. The third year at Ole Miss, we were up 24-3 and truthfully, I didn't coach well enough; when you get those type of leads, we ended up getting beat, what, 50-49 or something like that in that game. So it felt like we could have won that. I should've controlled the clock more in that game, and of course, last year, [I] should've been able to coach well enough and get out of there with the opportunity we had. And that certainly doesn't mean that I'm saying in any way we were better than his squad or than his staff for sure because he's arguably the best that's ever done it.”
What did Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze say about Nick Saban?
There's no doubt that Hugh Freeze has had an unusual amount of success against Nick Saban and the Alabama football program in his career.
After back-to-back decisive defeats in his first two years as Ole Miss head coach, Freeze and the Rebels upset the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide in 2014 to snap a 10-game losing streak to Alabama. The following year, Ole Miss again defeated Alabama, marking the first (and only) time in program history that the Rebels have won back-to-back games against the Tide. In total, Freeze went 2-3 against Saban from 2012 to 2016 before resigning from Ole Miss amid several scandals.
In Freeze's first game against Saban as the head coach of Auburn, Alabama's archrival, Freeze nearly led the Tigers to a massive upset. However, a 31-yard touchdown pass on 4th & Goal with less than a minute remaining put the Tide in front for a miraculous comeback win.
So it's not entirely surprising that Freeze would say what he said: that he should have at least a few more wins over Saban and Alabama.
“I mean, honestly, Nick is incredible, but I should have four wins against him,” Freeze told SEC Network's Marty Smith. “We beat him twice and we had them 24-3 the third year, and I wasn't smart enough to slow it down. And then last year, it easily could have gone our way. I may have not phrased that right, I want everybody (to know that), but we easily could have beat him a few more times.”
Whether Freeze can earn his third win against Alabama remains to be seen, but considering Saban retired and was replaced by Kalen DeBoer, it seems the Auburn coach's 2-4 record against Saban will stand for the rest of time.
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