Hugh Freeze on Auburn’s future SEC schedules: ‘Were the Packers available?’
By Mark Kern
Published:
Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers will be looking to bounce back from a tough road loss to Oklahoma last week when they travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M on Saturday. Life in the SEC is never easy, as every single week is a matchup against a good team with many talented players.
Earlier in the week, the conference announced the new 9-game schedule for 2026-29 as well as the 3 permanent opponents each program will see every season. In Auburn’s case, the Tigers will face Alabama and Georgia, as well as Vanderbilt, every year.
Freeze was asked about the Tigers’ future schedule during a media availability on Thursday and had the perfect response.
“Were the Packers available? Could we get them?” head coach Hugh Freeze joked. “Or maybe the Chiefs?”
College football is undergoing significant changes, making it increasingly challenging to sustain success. Players are no longer as willing to wait for an opportunity at one school when they can go play right away at a different one. Teams and coaches have had to adjust their roster-building strategies, but Freeze also believes that programs and fan bases need to reconsider how they define a successful season, particularly in the SEC.
“I do think the mindset of everybody has to be more like the NFL,” Freeze said. ” I think the days of a team just being dominant (are gone). I think you’ve got to start having the mindset that 8-4 is good, 9-3 can be really good, 10-2 is like off the charts. And when you look at those schedules and you add in you’re going to play a quality opponent in another power four conference, it’s going to be really good for the fans.”
While the schedule moving forward may be even more challenging, the Tigers’ current schedule is also a huge challenge. The road game against the Aggies on Saturday is the second of 4 consecutive games against teams ranked in the AP Top 20.
