In June, the head coach with an 11-14 record on the Plains was revealed to have played 10 rounds of golf, and at the time had already eclipsed 20 rounds of golf. All of this happened while Auburn lost multiple commits.

Similar to his linebacker room, to which Freeze stated that he “doesn’t know the difference" between starters and backups, Freeze said that the Auburn defensive line rotates in and out at breakneck speeds, with it often being difficult to tell which players are the starters and which are the backups.

It makes sense to consider Auburn an afterthought in the Southeastern Conference. After all, the Tigers have endured four consecutive losing seasons — their longest such skid in nearly eight decades — and failed to find much consistency since Tommy Tuberville’s heyday 20 years ago.