Hugh Freeze Believes Bye Week Gives Auburn Chance to ‘Regroup’

After the first half of the season didn't go as planned, the Auburn Tigers look to use the bye week to get back on track

The Auburn Tigers look to regroup during the bye week after a disappointing first half of the season. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers find themselves in an unideal position.

Halfway through the 2024 campaign, the Tigers have two wins to show for their efforts and are 0-3 in SEC play. They also have the second-most turnovers in FBS with 15.

Auburn still has six games to improve and put some momentum together. Head coach Hugh Freeze thinks the bye week will help his team regroup for the second half of the season.

“We’re excited to have an open date,” Freeze said. “We need to regroup obviously, physically and mentally. It’s been some disappointing games and we’ve got a lot to learn from and hopefully improve for the second half of the season. Certainly, we need it physically as well as mentally.”

The Tigers have struggled in a variety of areas but there has been one weakness that Freeze has noticed above the rest. It’s consistency in how they execute. Freeze has that at the top of things that need to be fixed. The adjustments need to be made on the field and on the sidelines.

 “It runs both ways from coaches and players,” he said. It’s our job to make sure our kids are consistent in whatever the execution of the calls are.”

Auburn’s most recent game saw them lose 31-13 on the road against No. 5 Georgia. Despite another loss, Freeze believed that his team did some things right as the underdogs. An example of how they want to improve.

“I thought our effort was good, I thought we had a good plan,” Freeze said. “I thought we’ve got to be better coaches in demanding the execution of what we expect to use in the game plan to win the game. We got to be harder on ourselves as coaches and expect more from our kids.”

Auburn returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 19 to take on the No. 21 Missouri Tigers on the road. The time for kickoff is to be determined.