Some coaches take accountability after a tough loss, others resort to coach speak in fear of saying the wrong thing.
Then there's what Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said following his team's 24-14 loss to Arkansas on Saturday.
"I mean no offense whatsoever to Arkansas or to Cal," Freeze said Monday. "I love Sam Pittman, I hope he wins the rest of his games. But I'm telling you, the hard truth is, we play (Arkansas) nine more times, we beat them nine times. And that's what's hard to take. It's hard for our fans I'm sure and it's certainly hard for us."
The Razorbacks — who were betting underdogs entering the matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium — dominated the Tigers defensively, especially in the first half. Even with a quarterback switch from Hank Brown to Payton Thorne at halftime, Auburn still ended the game with five turnovers and the same amount of points it scored (14) in a home loss to California on Sept. 7.
They say program culture is a reflection of the head coach, well, Freeze was full of excuses and what-ifs following the loss to Arkansas. Contrast that to head coach Sam Pittman, who veered away from falsehoods Monday to point out the real struggles his team is facing primarily in blocking.
"Our defense played their tails off," Freeze said. "Their effort — without the quarterback scramble runs, they held them to 20-something yards rushing. I mean, it was a dominant performance until they got tired at the end and they had to play too many snaps because of our turnovers.
"The third and longs killed us. They converted two third and longs on penalties and five on quarterback scrambling around stuff. Those seven plays, if you get off the field on half of those and give us four more possessions, I'm still convinced we win the game. But you can't turn the ball over five times."
Well, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a winning record in SEC play. The real "hard truth" is that Arkansas won this game fairly and squarely, and no amount of revisionist history will change that.
For starters, take away Taylen Green's 80 rushing yards and the Razorbacks still had 103 yards on the ground. That's far more than the “20-something” Freeze referred to. Freeze also pointed to fatigue playing a role in the end-of-game struggles against the rushing attack — which included 16-straight Arkansas run plays — but playing tired is part of football.
Looking at it the other way, what if Arkansas made its first field goal attempt of the game? What if the Hogs scored more points on some of their forced turnovers? What if a roughing the kicker penalty was called when an Auburn player clearly hit Arkansas punter Devin Bale in the first half? Taking it further, what if defensive backs Jaylon Braxton and Hudson Clark were healthy for the game?
But you can't ponder on what-ifs because this is reality, and the reality is that Auburn is far more likely to churn out subpar performances in the “nine more” games against Arkansas that Freeze referred to than it is to win out.
Up next, Arkansas will travel to Arlington, Texas, to face the No. 24 Texas A&M Aggies (3-1, 1-0 SEC) on Saturday at AT&T Stadium. That game will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT and it will be broadcast on ESPN.
