He is back in the Southeastern Conference and enters his second year at Auburn University, but Hugh Freeze still burns from what happened in last year’s Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
His final meeting against Nick Saban ended with Jalen Milroe finding Isaiah Bond for a 31-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter on a fourth and goal. The play, known as “Gravedigger,” silenced Tiger fans and made Freeze sick to his stomach.
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Alabama escaped with a 27-24 victory, but Freeze felt Auburn should have won that game.
Saban retired on Jan. 10 from coaching the Crimson Tide and Kalen DeBoer is the new man in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Freeze is one of few coaches that defeated Saban twice in his 17-year run at Alabama; however, he feels like he should have won more.
In an interview with Ryan McGee and Marty Smith of ESPN, Freeze revealed why 4th and 31 hurt him.
Hugh Freeze: “Nick (Saban) is incredible, but I should have four wins against him.”#MartyandMcGee Talkin’ Season: Tonight at 8pm ET on @SECNetwork. pic.twitter.com/NoSpoG70Bn
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) August 12, 2024
“We got to coach better,” Freeze said about how 4th and 31 impacted his life.
“If you are not accountable through the week on little things, it will show up show up on third down. It will show up on fourth down. Some of that fault is on the culture, some of it is coaching. Maybe, we did not coach it well enough. Not winning that game sucked. It stunk, it was disappointing, hard, but I did not think our roster was as good as theirs. It gave me the confidence that Auburn could return to one of the top programs in the country pretty fast because we went toe to toe with them. We should have won the game, truthfully, but it was a mixed bag of this is awful, but man … we can play with them.”
Freeze has the utmost respect for Saban, but his teams always gave Alabama a difficult challenge.
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He beat the Crimson Tide twice as Ole Miss’ head coach in 2014 and 2015. Freeze nearly beat Saban a third time in 2016, but Alabama pulled out a 48-43 victory in Oxford, Miss. He told McGee and Smith he should have four wins against Saban.
“At Ole Miss, we were the first staff to bring in the tempo RPO and he did not like that,” Freeze said about how he had success versus Saban at Mississippi. “He tried to get it changed and all that, but then he started doing it. He is a good friend of mine, but I did understand what complicated their calls. Nick is incredible, but I should have four wins against him. We beat them [Alabama] twice and we are up 24-3 on them the third year, but I was not smart enough to slow it down. It easily could have gone our way last year. We could have easily beat him a few more times.”
Saban is now an advisor to the University of Alabama football program. Coach DeBoer has an opportunity to start his winning streak against Freeze and Auburn. His first Iron Bowl as the Tide’s head coach will be on Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Freeze is salted about not beating Saban more, yet will he handle DeBoer? The first matchup will be fun.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
