Hugh Freeze faces the greatest challenge in college football this weekend. Auburn will host top-ranked Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.
The Tigers are 3-1 after a demoralizing loss in College Station. The Bulldogs are 4-0 on the heels of their second-straight national championship.
Georgia is a 14-point favorite over Auburn. However, a two-score loss would actually be encouraging for Freeze and his team after how inept it looked at Texas A&M. It could be a blowout on The Plains this weekend.
Regardless of how things go, Freeze is not hitting the panic button. He is only in his first year. He inherited a program that struggled to, or failed to make a bowl game in each of the last three seasons.
There are going to be growing pains. There are going to be struggles!
Legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden once said: “The four stages of coaching are first, you lose big; then you lose small; then you win small; and then you win big.”
Right now, Auburn is stage one. The Tigers lost big to the Aggies and will hope not to turn right back around and lose big to the Bulldogs.
Freeze spoke to the idea that it takes time to build a successful program on Monday. He’s right.
However, the example he chose to make his point fell flat.
Hugh Freeze couldn’t believe Kirby Smart’s success.
Freeze talked about how it took Kirby Smart three or four years to make his first appearance in the national championship game as the head coach at Georgia. That is not accurate.
Smart played Alabama for a national title on Jan. 8, 2018 — in just his second year as head coach. THe Crimson Tide won by three in overtime, but the Bulldogs were there.
Freeze initially refused to believe that factual information when a reporter correct his initial comments about Smart’s timeline. He said: “I don’t know that that’s accurate.”
It is accurate, and Freeze went from disagreeable to impressed when someone reaffirmed that it took Smart just two years. And then he quickly moved on.
Perhaps Freeze should have done his research before using his opponent to make a point about his own team’s struggles in year one. Oops!