Hugh Freeze addresses job security after Auburn's fourth straight SEC loss

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze offered no excuses following Saturday night's 23-17 double-overtime loss to 16th-ranked Missouri, the Tigers' fourth straight competitive setback in SEC play.

Auburn led 17-10 in the fourth quarter prior to Missouri's game-tying drive capped by Ahmad Hardy's 3-yard touchdown run with 5:07 remaining. Two empty possessions in overtime left Freeze in disappointment postgame after another missed opportunity in conference play against a quality opponent.

"Listen, we all know what we signed up and I certainly know we fit what Auburn is all about," Freeze said when asked about his message to fans and job security. "But Auburn is also about winning football and you know, we're going to come to work Monday and get our kids ready to play Arkansas. These kids are playing their guts out and I know that we've changed the talent level here, but at the end of the day, at some point you have to win football games. 

"I don't make those decisions, those calls, I just know that God's called me here to lead these young men through a very challenging and difficult time. I'm not enjoying it a whole lot, that part of it, but yet, when you're called to have backbone and to stand and walk through and do a job you've been asked to do, you're going to do it faithfully and do it really well … or do it as well as you can until that time does not exist."

Freeze said before the season that Auburn was taking an "expectant" mentality into the campaign and had the personnel capable of winning big in the SEC. It hasn't happened and Saturday's third loss by a single possession was particularly numbing.

He entered his third season as one of nine coaches with his job on the line, according to CBS Sports' preseason hot seat rankings and was one of a handful within the SEC entering a tenure-defining year.

One of those coaches, Sam Pittman at Arkansas, has already been fired and another -- Florida's Billy Napier -- is facing scorching temperatures. Freeze had posted just one losing season in his career when Auburn hired him away from Liberty in 2023, but consecutive seven-loss campaigns followed by this disappointing start have created mass uncertainty surrounding his future.

Auburn athletic director John Cohen said this week it's "not my expectation at this point" to make a coaching change, but added that he'll "never say never" amid a season of despair.

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"I don't know if I'm going to walk outside and my car is going to start or not, I think it is," Cohen said during an interview with AL.com's Peter Rauterkaus on Monday. "I have an expectation it will. But if my car doesn't start enough, then I will evaluate that and make decisions about my car. But that's not my expectation at this point about our football program."

Freeze is 5-15 at Auburn against SEC opponents and the Tigers have lost 11 of their last 13 games in league play.

"This just sucks," Freeze said. "This stinks, and there's nothing you can say to make anyone feel better in that locker room. Our fans are incredible, and we'd love to be at Toomer's (Corner) with them right now. But we're still obviously not finding ways to win games."