Auburn HC Hugh Freeze drops a bombshell, hints at a potentially huge SEC shake-up: "I'll miss playing Georgia every year"

Auburn versus Georgia is a historical SEC matchup, and Hugh Freeze got his first taste of Deep South's Oldest Rivalry as a Tigers coach in the narrow 27-20 loss in Week 5.

The two rivals first played each other in 1892, and the recent conference realignment and expansion moves that have plagued college sports didn't seem to affect the fixture until Freeze made some bizarre comments.

While speaking at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, Hugh Freeze appears to have let slip an imminent Southeastern Conference scheduling change.

“I'll miss playing Georgia every year. I just got to experience it for my first time,” Freeze said. “I loved every minute of it other than the outcome. I love competing against those types of teams. There are some changes coming.”

At another event in Alabama, Freeze further expounded on the conference realignment issue that might affect certain historical matchups in the future.

“The game has changed. I don’t know that we coaches have the power to do anything to really slow the changes down,” Freeze said. “Obviously, the conference realignment has happened within our conference.

"I’m pretty confident the SEC is pretty solid on where we are. I think they’ll enjoy the new rivalries when they get to see Texas and Oklahoma among the great rivalries we already have in our conference.”

Auburn’s assistant AD for football communications, Shelly Poe, clarified that Hugh Freeze had no specific information on the future SEC scheduling format.

Freeze also explained that his earlier comments were simply speculation on his part:

"I have no clue what's going on with future schedules. ... I was using a hypothetical, and I certainly hope everybody clears that up."

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Hugh Freeze loses narrowly to Georgia

The Auburn Tigers led the national champions, the Georgia Bulldogs, by 10 points before surrendering their lead in the fourth quarter to lose the game 27-20.

After the game, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said he was proud of his team's effort against Kirby Smart's relentless juggernaut.

"I’m really proud of our kids. Hopefully, we can build off the way we played better today," Freeze said. "It hurts, and it’s disappointing that we couldn’t find a way to get it done."

With opponents like Oklahoma and Texas coming into the SEC next year and the scheduling format certainly changing, Saturday's loss might have meant the end of the historic clash between Auburn and Georgia, to the dismay of many fans.