Auburn HC Hugh Freeze has tone-deaf take on rivalry with former Alabama HC Nick Saban

One of the best parts of college football is the rivalries that run deep into the bedrock of the sport.

One of those rivalries is the Iron Bowl, where the state of Alabama is divided between die-hard Auburn Tigers fans and the Alabama Crimson Tide faithful.

And while Auburn HC Hugh Freeze only squared off with Coach Saban once in the Iron Bowl, the two have a history that Freeze thinks should have ended differently:

Freeze Thinks He Should Have 4 Wins over Nick Saban

“Nick is incredible – but I should have four wins against them,” Hugh Freeze told Marty Smith and Ryan McGee of ESPN .. “We beat them twice and we had them 24-3 the third year, and I wasn’t smart enough to slow it down. And then last year it easily could’ve gone our way. … We easily could’ve beat him a few more times.”

Now look, Freeze isn't wrong. His Ole Miss Rebels did beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2014 and 2015, choked a huge lead in 2016, followed by his Tigers team that was a 4th and 31 stop away from beating Saban for a fourth time last season.

That's not up for debate.

The problem is when you have to hedge your statement on how great someone is by saying: "But I should have four wins against them," that tells you all you need to know about how dominant that coach was.

“Well, at Ole Miss, I think we were one of the first staffs to bring in the tempo/RPO world, and he didn’t like that at all and tried to get it changed and all that.,” Freeze added. “Then he started doing it. And he’s a good friend of mine, for sure. But I did understand what complicated their calls.”

Saban and his defense did have to adapt to the run-pass option, and he did hire names like Lane Kiffin to advance the offensive philosophy from ground and pound to more of an aerial attack.

But when did adapting or keeping up with the modern intricacies of football become a bad thing?

“Not winning that game [2023 Iron Bowl] sucked. It stunk. It was disappointing, hard,” said Freeze. “But at the same time, I didn’t think our roster was as good as theirs. And it gave me even more confidence that Auburn can return to one of the top programs in the country pretty fast, because we went toe to toe with them and should’ve won the game, truthfully. So it was a mixed bag of this is awful, but man, we can play with them.”

We'll see if Freeze's Tigers can actually: "Play with," the Tide come November.

Related: Vegas has underestimated the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide and HC Kalen DeBoer should take it personally