The Auburn Tigers have returned to campus following a grueling trip to the West Coast.
The Tigers earned a gritty 14-10 victory over California late Saturday, and it was an adventure that Auburn head coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] hopes to never deal with again.
During Monday’s press conference, Freeze discussed the challenges of having to play in California, as well as his team’s performance against the Golden Bears.
“A win like that, it’s a tough trip. We will not go on Thursday again if we ever have to do that again. That trip back is really hard. We rolled in here at 10:00 yesterday morning. I don’t know if you can recover immediately the next week for that. I think there is so much to build on. I am still learning this team, and they are still learning me. I was so pleased, there was no panic. It was just, we are going to figure this out somehow, some way and come out of here with a win. Not every team in year one I felt could handle that, and I was not sure about our kids, truthfully. I really thought we were going to go in there and score 30 or 40 points and make it easier on the defense, and Lord knows that didn’t happen. I was so proud of the leadership on that side of the ball that. It was just like, ‘We got you.’ Asante played his tail off, as did others. There is so much to build on, particularly at the point we are at. You should fight to the end regardless of what the result might end up being. That is the way we should keep fighting.”
Freeze hit on several other topics Monday, such as quarterbacks, playcalling, and key defensive performances.
Here is everything Hugh Freeze said ahead of Saturday’s game with Samford at Jordan-Hare Stadium.