Hugh Freeze didn’t hide behind excuses or deflect blame. “Zero excuses,” he said flatly after Auburn’s 10–3 home loss to Kentucky dropped the Tigers to 4–5. “It’s unacceptable the way we’re playing.”
Auburn managed just 123 passing yards and failed to reach the end zone for the second time this season, wasting another strong defensive effort. The Tigers have now scored only one touchdown in their last eight quarters.
Quarterback Ashton Daniels completed 13-of-28 passes for 108 yards and an interception while rushing for 48 more. Backup Jackson Arnold briefly replaced him in the second half before Freeze turned back to Daniels. “He should have turned some loose in the first half,” Freeze said. “Then we wanted to see if Jackson could give us a spark. He’s a little more elusive in the pocket.”
Kentucky’s defense, ranked near the bottom of the SEC against the pass entering the night, kept Auburn’s aerial attack bottled up. “We really struggled to protect tonight,” Freeze admitted. “They did a nice job with their twist games. Every time we had something going, we’d give up a sack or get behind the chains.”
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Auburn’s lone scoring drive came early in the second quarter on a 42-yard field goal by Alex McPherson. Running back Jeremiah Cobb provided some consistency with 72 yards on 20 carries, but the Tigers converted just 3-of-13 third downs and possessed the ball for less than six minutes in the third quarter.
Defensively, Auburn again held up its end — forcing two turnovers and holding Kentucky to ten points. “It’s very frustrating for one unit to play so well and not get results,” Freeze said. “Their product is much better than the outcome.”
As boos echoed late, Freeze faced the questions head-on. “My job is to get this team ready to play and win games, and we have failed to do that this year,” he said. “It’s frustrating. I still believe we’re really close. It’s sickening that we haven’t delivered.”
When asked about fans calling for his firing, Freeze didn’t flinch. “I wish I could ask for patience, but that’s not really something people want to give in this day and time,” he said. “I love what we’re doing here. Our family loves it. Our staff loves it. But we haven’t gotten the results, and that’s frustrating. We all know what we sign up for.”
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