Hugh Freeze’s Achilles Heel is New Mexico State, Mind-Bending Stat Shows

Huge Freeze appears to have a New Mexico State problem.

Auburn entered Saturday's game against New Mexico State as 25.5-point favorites to beat the Aggies at home. Instead, the Tigers got trounced, ultimately falling to New Mexico State 31–10.

For Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, the loss was familiar territory. Last season, Freeze was coaching at Liberty when the Flames hosted the Aggies as 24-point favorites. In that game as well, Freeze’s team lost big—with a final score of 49–14.

If you are thinking those are two pretty big losses for a team that entered a game as a pretty big favorite, you would be correct. Historically so.

Whether at Liberty or Auburn, Freeze simply cannot find a way past New Mexico State despite being expected to win by three touchdowns in both games.

The last two examples of a 21+ point underdog winning a game by 21+ points:

New Mexico St over Hugh Freeze in 2022 (at Liberty)
New Mexico State over Hugh Freeze in 2023 (at Auburn)

— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) November 19, 2023

Fans were quick to make jokes about Freeze's misfortune against the Aggies.

This is the best evidence I’ve ever seen for intelligent design in the universe https://t.co/GBY0DUIH1E

— Matt Scalici (@MattScalici) November 19, 2023

Hugh will never want to see Jerry Kill on the other sidelines again https://t.co/XUQ6QJPUbJ

— Todd Fuhrman (@ToddFuhrman) November 19, 2023

New Mexico St: colder than Freeze 🥶 https://t.co/81YqRmIkUd

— Texas Pregamer (@TexasPregamer) November 19, 2023

While the loss in undoubtedly a frustrating one, there is one silver lining now that the game is over—Auburn isn't scheduled to play New Mexico State next season.