Hugh Freeze only traveled on Saturday. How has it affected Auburn's game day routine?

When the Auburn football team traveled to Lexington on Friday for Saturday's game, it found itself in a unique situation.

It was without its leader as head coach Hugh Freeze remained at Auburn due to illness.

News of Freeze's absence was first reported Saturday morning by ESPN's Pete Thamel. He explained that Freeze was probably suffering from food poisoning and had only joined the team on Saturday.

Freeze made it to Lexington and was able to practice there, but required an IV before the game due to what Freeze described as “weakness.”

Although Freeze only joined the team on Saturday, he and Auburn players said not much has changed in the game day routine. Freeze was not present at Auburn's Friday night team meeting, a routine the team should perhaps do more often, Freeze joked.

“It would have been a disaster for everyone if I had tried to travel with them yesterday,” Freeze said. “But nothing was really different except I missed the Friday night meetings.”

Freeze said he made it to all of Saturday's Auburn matchups on time and maintained game-day routines.

Payton Thorne said Freeze was not present at Auburn's walkthroughs Friday, but he was able to text back and forth with him Saturday morning.

“We're glad to have him here with us and he seemed to be doing better,” Thorne said.

Defensive player Keldric Faulk said Freeze's early absence didn't change his experience in our routine and claimed he knew Freeze was coming.

“I knew there was no way he was going to miss this game,” Faulk said. “He loves his players, he loves the game, he loves Auburn. I didn't change my routine because I knew he was coming. I knew he would be behind us every step of the way.”

Thamel said on SEC Nation that Freeze had a “pretty tough 24-hour stretch” leading up to Saturday. However, with an IV and some adrenaline, he found his way back to the sideline and helped lead Auburn to its first SEC win of the season.

“Now that we won, I feel good,” Freeze said after the game. “I’m sure I’ll get some rest tomorrow.”

Peter Rauterkus reports on Auburn Sports AL.com. You can follow him on X below @peter_rauterkus or send him an email at [email protected]M