Hugh Freeze needs a win, and so do the Auburn Tigers. Heading into the season a record of 2-5 did not seem likely. Especially with the first five games at home against what seemed to be beatable opponents. The major culprits of the five losses have been turnovers and fourth-quarter struggles. For Freeze, it is year two, and improvement needs to be shown after going 6-7 in year one. Freeze is not on any kind of hot seat, but Auburn fans are getting less patient. They will now travel to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in hopes of snapping a four-game losing streak. The Tigers seem to be going in reverse.
Hugh Freeze Needs a Win
Holding on to the 2025 Recruiting Class
While the play on the field has not been good, Freeze and the coaching staff have been doing work in recruiting. Currently, Auburn is ranked fifth according to the 247Sports recruiting rankings. The most recent addition to that class is quarterback Deuce Knight out of Lucedale, Mississippi. He was committed to Notre Dame before being flipped to the Tigers. Auburn needs to start winning games and showing some proof of concept. Losing more games could open the door for other teams to pick off the class. Holding on to the 2025 recruiting class is huge for this program to give fans hope for the future.
Fourth Quarter
If football was just a three-quarter game, the Auburn Tigers would have a much better record than 2-5. Last week against the Missouri Tigers, Auburn entered the quarter with a 17-6 lead. It was almost the same situation in week five against the Oklahoma Sooners. Auburn scored in the first minute of the fourth to go up 21-10 before collapsing for a 27-21 loss.
In the 21-17 loss to Missouri in their last game, quarterback Payton Thorne was one for six in the fourth quarter. That is the time in the game when a senior quarterback should be able to make a play to help win the game. Especially one who has seen as much game action as Thorne. If not Thorne, someone on the offense needs to step up at that point in the game. That is what this time is missing. Someone to come up big in the clutch.
How to Beat Kentucky
The Kentucky Wildcats come into the game on Saturday coming off a 48-20 loss to the Florida Gators. Going into the contest Kentucky had one of the better defenses in the SEC. Especially against the run. Gators’ running back Jadan Baugh rushed for 106 yards and five touchdowns in the game. Quarterback DJ Lagway had a big game through the air passing for 259 yards. Perhaps a weakness has been spotted in the Wildcats defense. This could mean a big day for Jarquez Hunter. The Auburn offense works best when Hunter is having a big day.
Thorne will need to protect the ball when the Tigers go to the passing game. The Auburn receivers need a big day as well outside of KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Cam Coleman had a touchdown against Missouri, but that was his only catch. Malcolm Simmons has stepped up as the number two receiver and has been featured more in the offense. Despite the poor performance against Florida, the Wildcats defense does rank fourth in the SEC. On average, they give up just 283.6 yards per game.
The Kentucky offense ranks 15th in the SEC averaging just 319.9 yards per game. The passing game is the worst in the conference at 167.9 yards per game. The addition of Brock Vandagriff has not equaled great success to this point. Vandagriff has thrown for 1,116 yards and six touchdowns. They do have talented receivers though in Dane Key and Barion Brown. The two have combined for 770 yards and five touchdowns this season. The Auburn secondary has been their weakness this season due to depth issues and inexperience. Freshman Jay Crawford has played well though.
The Wildcats have allowed 15 sacks this season, and Auburn has two of the better pass rushers in the conference that do not get a lot of recognition. Keldric Faulk and Jalen McLeod both have five sacks each, and Eugene Asante picked up two against Missouri. Limiting running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye will be key to putting the game on Vandagriff’s shoulders. Sumo-Karngbaye has rushed for 419 yards this season with four touchdowns. Hugh Freeze needs a win to get Auburn back on track this Saturday.
