Good Vibes Returning to Auburn ahead of Vanderbilt Clash

A light-hearted poke at their head coach and a win on the road have done wonders for Auburn Tigers morale.

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze celebrates with quarterback Payton Thorne after the win against the Kentucky Wildcats. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Bonds between Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze and his own players have appeared confused at best during this especially turbulent season.

Of course, things have at times seemed particularly fractured between Freeze and his frequently downtrodden quarterback Payton Thorne. 

Ironically, what brought everyone back together as a much more cohesive unit last Saturday in Kentucky may have boiled down to a sloppy chef.

Faced with the prospect of Freeze being absent from the sideline with a bad case of food poisoning, the Tigers realized they do in fact like playing for each other and their under fire head coach.

Freeze must have been delighted to have felt the love once his stomach had finally settled down, but locker room drama invariably turns to slapstick comedy fairly quickly.

Instead of calling it the "Flu Game", perhaps the players are calling it something more graphic.

"I'm glad they had fun with it," Freeze admitted during SEC media availability. "It did make me feel better for sure. I would've felt awful if we hadn't won it, but I did feel better. They can call the games whatever they want when we win. I don't care, but I'm glad they had some fun with it for sure."

Perhaps the injection of some more light-hearted vibes and a little humor has served to take the pressure off Freeze, his players, and the entire program.

After all, the last thing the power brokers within Auburn really want to do is start looking for another head coach to pick up the pieces all over again. Consequently, short term objectives can suddenly be entertained without feeling bad about it, but that was only facilitated by winning on the road against the Wildcats.

One good thing which came from drawing a line in the sand was that Freeze finally discovered how his young group can face down adversity and ultimately prevail.

"Just really proud of our kids. The reality is, down 10 - 0 with an interception, it could have grown," Freeze said of the challenges they faced last Saturday. "A lot of teams, after going through the disappointments we've gone through in losing difficult games this year could have easily said 'on my' and it could have gotten away from us. Our kids chose to fight, and I think that's a testament to the character on this team and what we're trying to build here. Very thankful and pleased with a lot of things that happened in that game."

Part of the process has been Freeze showing the same kind of empathy towards his players, the type that they've recently shown him when he really needed it.

In fairness, Freeze has been far too quick to jump on the mistakes that his quarterback has made in particular, but he is showing he can give a little wiggle room to his troops when it's called for.

When you consider just how important developing the talented group of freshmen talent like Malcolm Simmons, displaying that kind of more relaxed attitude is worth its weight in gold.

"The first interception, truthfully, we had a young man run the wrong route that should have gone to him," Freeze explained. "Payton was wanting to deliver it to Malcolm (Simmons) right now on the snap, and he ran the wrong route. Malcom, I just love him, man. He is going to be a phenomenal player, but he is still learning."

Turning the page is more than a little bit refreshing, and long may it continue.