Auburn AD John Cohen on Hugh Freeze’s Tigers: ‘Just need to keep getting better’
Published:
Auburn athletic director John Cohen isn’t ready to declare the Tigers back just because they finally managed to win an SEC game on Saturday after rallying past Arkansas on the road.
The 33-24 victory was nice, but Auburn is still at .500 overall at 4-4 and is still stuck at 1-4 in the SEC. Saturday’s win didn’t come easy, because nothing these days comes easily for the Tigers. They were down 24-16 going into the fourth quarter in Fayetteville and benched starting quarterback Jackson Arnold after he threw an 89-yard pick-6 late in the first half.
The Tigers trailed 21-10 at halftime after that seemingly crushing turn of events, but they dug themselves out with a huge fourth quarter during which they outscored Arkansas 17-0 to keep the Hogs winless in the SEC. That’s what Auburn would’ve been after Saturday had it not rallied behind backup quarterback Ashton Daniels and an opportunistic defense, and Cohen was keeping things in check afterward.
“We gotta find a way to get better, and we’ve had some struggles in the second half offensively,” Cohen told CBS Sports. “Our defense allowed us to have a successful second half. We just gotta keep progressing.”
Cohen wasn’t finished. He knows the seat is hot on head coach Hugh Freeze, and he wants Freeze and the Tigers to be better going forward.
“Every single game we have played has been winnable. Every single game we’ve played,” Cohen said. “Just need to keep getting better.”
Cohen’s thoughts on Freeze and the team weren’t earth-shattering, but rarely do athletic directors comment publicly on the state of their teams, especially when the head coach is on that hot seat.
Auburn has a good chance to snag another SEC win this Saturday when it hosts Kentucky, which like Arkansas is still winless in the SEC.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
