Auburn Head Coach Hugh Freeze after Iron Bowl Defeat: "That's Gonna Stick With Us For a While"

After a brutal 27-24 loss to No. 7 Alabama in the final minutes, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was anything but jovial.

Auburn, Ala. — What can you even say?

In the final minutes of a back-and-forth Iron Bowl, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe fired a 31-yard touchdown to Isaiah Bond in the back left corner of Jordan-Hare Stadium's south endzone on 4th-and-31 with 0:32 remaining — giving the Crimson Tide a 27-24 victory.

The play, which occurred on the 10th anniversary of the infamous kick-six, is now forever etched in Alabama lore. 

Now on the opposite side of history, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and the Tigers will be hoping to erase Bond and Milroe's heroics from their memory for the foreseeable future.

"Just, uh, first really proud of our kids," Freeze said. "Obviously it stinks to to not get the win tonight, and we just we didn't play good enough in the critical moments. Had a turnover probably three minutes to go or four minutes to go and then obviously didn't execute fourth and whatever it was there really came down to those few plays in a game like this. But, man it's it's a lot of hurt in that locker room and it stinks. Our kids gave themselves a chance to win the iron bowl tonight and that's gonna stick with us for a while."

When asked if there was anything Auburn's defense could've done differently on the highlight-reel touchdown, Freeze was quick to point to failed execution and not decision making — and hinted at a missed call.

"I mean, second guess it, just got to play with vision and we got nine guys back there and just play with vision and make a play on the ball and knock it down," Freeze said.  "He felt like he was shoved off, but I couldn't tell, but you know mean you can pressure him and then you got one on ones and they throw it up. You can do that if you want, or you can play. I like the call. Just got to just sit back there with vision and and knock the ball down."

While the Tigers fought until the end, Freeze knows his coaching staff and players will be reeling the loss for quite some time. 

"I don't think any coach has the words," Freeze said. "You tell them you love them that they will learn from and get through it. But it's going to hurt and there's there's no way around it and you're gonna have to walk through the hurt."

As Auburn prepares to set the reset button next season, the first-year head coach remains hopeful for the future, but knows there's work to be done on the plains.

"Well, we're going to we're going to be one of the elite programs in the country," Freeze said. "And I really didn't have a vision for this year other than to try to get us to a bowl game and improve us from week to week and I can't say that every week I have felt like that - and that's why, you know, you're hard on yourself as a coach. And we got to look at ourselves as coaches every single week, every single day and are we demanding a standard that's going to get us to that elite status?

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Inside Jalen Milroe's Journey From Benching to Elite Quarterback Status