Credit must go to Auburn’s head football coach/master communicator because he’s a cook in the kitchen these days.
Bravo.
Digesting the last week or so of his word salads leads me to a simple conclusion: This is all the plan -- a diversion straight out of a 90s-era kid adventure movie.
Steal the headlines saying a bunch of things dumb media guys—like this one—will leach onto, and we’ll leave the players alone.
Look over here, not over there. Shiny object. Here’s a toy. Enjoy a halftime hot dog.
It’s brilliant.
Freeze’s regularly scheduled Monday morning news conference (seen above or here) was a greatest hits of the easily mocked sound bites that have dotted this season on the brink. There were several comments of note that came in response to questions but Freeze also came out firing with his prepared opening statement.
Starting off by thanking the fans, students, band and cheerleaders for their support, Freeze acknowledged they must be hurting because the team is “gutted.” He spoke about restoring “the glory” and the need to “build up Auburn men.”
He got to the good stuff soon after.
“I think you all are aware of what we inherited,” he said, summoning the spirit of Bryan Harsin from the mountains of Idaho.
Freeze never mentioned the name of his predecessor but, buddy, did he ever go there.
“Our AD has done a marvelous job of explaining that,” Freeze continued. “He did to me before I took the job, with the previous recruiting classes not being what you need to compete at a high level. And 57 transfers out in the previous three years before my arrival.”
See, not his fault.
He had numbers in the holster if you didn’t believe him.
“So building takes time,” he said. “But our process, when complete, is going to make everyone very, very proud to wear the orange and blue. It’s making ground, the process is. I see it.”
Who doesn’t?
Asked later about realistic expectations from fans given what he inherited, Freeze encouraged them to do their own research.
“I won’t comment on what happened before I was here,” he said. “The roster was what it was. Everybody can make their own determination on that, on how many people left and the recruiting rankings and what was brought in.”
And it’s not that he’s wrong. The Harsin era was among the most disastrous in recent SEC memory -- a horrible fit from the beginning. But the Freeze critics who say he spends too much time blaming others don’t understand how a diversion works.
And it’s working.
We’re this deep into the column and I haven’t even mentioned Auburn’s 2-3 after playing five straight home games -- all of which the Tigers entered as the betting favorite.
Details!
It takes time to build talent, though. Auburn must not have much so let’s look at the 247Sports team talent composite based on the recruiting rankings of its current roster. Auburn is No. 18. Here are the Tigers opponents from September, their talent rankings and Auburn’s results.
- 7. Oklahoma, 27-21 loss
- 26. Arkansas, 24-14 loss
- 47. Cal, 21-14 loss
- 118. New Mexico, 45-19 win
Eh, whatever.
Coaching is another important factor and Freeze took responsibility for not always putting his players in the best situations. He praised the team for their effort in the fall-from-ahead loss to Oklahoma that couldn’t be blamed on the scheme.
“And I told our staff that honestly, it’s one of the better game plans that a staff has put together in my time,” Freeze said.
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What fan wouldn’t want to hear the perfect game plan ended in a six-point home loss in a game it led 21-10 in the fourth quarter?
On the expectations, Freeze understands the concern. He didn’t say they would beat Oklahoma nine out of the next nine times and blame is for everybody.
“Should the fans expect more in than a 2-3 start? Absolutely,” he said. “We could easily, like I said in my opening statement sitting here, be 5-0. But we didn’t get it done. We can point to the coaching errors, and we can point to the 11 turnovers and all those things. It’s a mixture. We could point to our youth.”
It’s like Oprah giving away cars, except it’s blame.
And Freeze is hip to those who say he does that too much. Asked about specific failures in short-yardage situations, Freeze acknowledged the haters (like his former QB at Ole Miss) who say he assigns the guilt more to others than himself.
“Everybody seems to think that when I tell you what really happened - that I throw somebody under the bus,” Freeze said. “I’m not.”
He’s just honest.
And possibly only doing it to take the attention away from the players by making everyone mad at him. It only sounds like he’s saying wild and contradictory things because it’s all a trap and Freeze is holding the net.
Checkers vs. chess.
And that’s a checkmate.
