AUBURN — Auburn coach Hugh Freeze took the blame Monday for Auburn football's collapse at home against Oklahoma this past weekend, but he also pointed at what he inherited from his predecessor, Bryan Harsin.

Now with the Tigers heading to a road matchup against Georgia, a place where Auburn has not won since 2005, Freeze wants fans to remain proud to wear their orange and blue despite the 2-3 start to the 2024 season.

"Saturday hurt our kids and our staff, and I'm sure it hurt our incredible fans," Freeze said. "I'm responsible to bring results to this program that restore its glory. Our fanbase has done their part, which makes not being 5-0 very hard to swallow. My ask is to stick with us during the growing pains.

"I'm not taking anything away from those teams. They found a way to win those games. But we found a way to lose them. That's what hurts the most."

Is Auburn football doomed?

Auburn leaned on its 2024 top-10 recruiting class as several freshman made game-changing plays against the Sooners. Freshman receivers Malcolm Simmons and Cam Coleman combined for seven catches and 142 yards, including Simmons' 48-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Freshman linebacker Demarcus Riddick led the defense with six tackles and a sack spying Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. Defensive back Kaleb Harris finished with Auburn's highest defensive grade of the game, per Pro Football Focus, with five tackles and a pass breakup. Defensive tackle Malik Blocton and cornerback Jay Crawford made their first career starts.

"Well, they had no experience. There’s nothing like playing in a game. You start to see, and again without being negative toward any other players, you start to see that we’re recruiting kids that can make a difference. That can run and they can tackle," Freeze said. "We hadn’t run a quarterback down in a scramble in a while and here goes Demarcus Riddick in the game. He doesn’t know half of what to do really with every call right now. But when you’re an athlete, you’re an athlete. That guy runs a very fast quarterback down on several occasions.

"That’s the type of recruiting we have to have and that we are doing and going to add to us very soon. I thought he and Jay Crawford played solid also. Malik Blocton is playing a ton of snaps and of course all the receivers. Just playing a lot of young kids for sure and proud to see them start having some successes. Terrance Love got in the game and did some good things and that’s good to see. Playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores; it's good to see and get those experiences in the game.”

Since his arrival to the plains, Freeze has flourished in recruiting, securing the country's No. 10 class in 2024. Currently the Tigers sit at No. 4 in the Class of 2025 247Sports team recruiting rankings, trailing Ohio State, Alabama and LSU. With 24 commitments in 2025, Auburn currently has pledges from four of the top five in-state recruits, according to the 247Sports Composite. Seven pledges in the class are all on the defensive side of the ball.

The Tigers added 33 newcomers in Freeze's first offseason, including 19 recruits out of high school, 12 transfers and two players from junior college. When former coach Bryan Harsin was fired Oct. 31, Auburn's 2023 recruiting class was ranked last in the SEC and No. 55 in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite.

Harsin went 9-12 in two seasons at Auburn before being fired. He was 4-9 in SEC play.

"I won't comment on what happened before I was here. The roster was what it was. Everybody can make their own determination on that, on how many people left and the recruiting rankings and what was brought in. So, you can look at that and make your own determination," Freeze said. "Should the fans expect more than a 2-3 start? Absolutely. We could easily be 5-0, but we didn't get it done.

"We can point to the coaching errors, and we can point to the 11 turnovers and all those things. It's a mixture. We could point to our youth. Like I said earlier, we can sit here and talk about all those things, but we are a result-oriented profession, and those results didn't go our way. So, there's no way that I can sit here and say that those three games weren't winnable."

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football turns the page to Georgia: Can the Tigers shake back?