Hugh Freeze shows respect for California Golden Bears ahead of matchup

Coach Freeze discusses his Tigers week two road matchup against the Cal Golden Bears.

Author:
Joshua Collins
Publish date:
Sep 4, 2023 3:54 PM EDT

In this story:

Week two of the 2023 college football season is upon us, and Coach Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers are preparing for a tough road matchup against the California Golden Bears this Saturday.

Coach Freeze addressed the media this morning as to how the Tigers are preparing for the contest and what they expect to see from their opponents across the line of scrimmage.

Cal is coming off a road win in Denton, Texas this past Saturday against the North Texas Mean Green, where they put up some impressive numbers on the stat lines. Cal routed the Mean Green with a final score of 58-21 posting a total of 669 yards on offense and holding North Texas to only 225 yards. The Golden Bears were a slightly penalty ridden throughout the game being called for eight penalties to the tune of negative 60 yards.

Coach Freeze spoke on the matchup with candor this morning expressing his concerns about their offensive and defensive schemes. Here are few notable comments from Coach Freeze about the Golden Bears.

Freeze opened with stressing the importance of “Embracing the challenge of traveling to Cal” while also touching on the late kickoff."

“How do we handle being uncomfortable?" Freeze said. “We need to win the turnover battle and the penalty battle as many games as we can.”

When asked about Cal’s offensive attack, Freeze spoke about Cal’s starting RB Jaydn Ott. “Just hand it to him… If it’s blocked semi-well, he can be a handful,” Freeze said. Ott carried the ball 20 times on Saturday putting up 188 yards for two touchdowns.

Cal's defense isn't a slouch, either. Justin Wilcox is an excellent defensive coach, and Freeze knows that. “Cal’s defense is very well coached…It’s not a complicated defense, but sound," Freeze said. “He (Wilcox) has his players very well disciplined on their assignments.”

Coach Freeze isn’t taking this challenge lightly and is hoping to have his Tigers prepared to rise to the challenge that the Golden Bears will present them.

Be sure to tune in at 9:30pm CT on Saturday, September 9^th to watch your Auburn Tigers suit up and play ball against the Cal Golden Bears.