Turning off outside noise is standard practice for any head coach, no matter if the wins or losses pile up.

This turns out to be one of the only things Auburn Tigers Head coach Hugh Freeze has excelled so far this year on the coaching side.

“I haven’t heard anything. I don’t hear that,” Freeze said of fan discontent at the press conference this week. “We’re just not consistent enough, obviously on critical downs offensively. I think our defense really plays at a high level. Offensively, when we’re not able to create explosive runs, it seems like we really have to bad at protecting the passer and throwing and catching, but you know, we don’t play very well on special teams, so it’s a bad combination.

Anything less than a win the remainder of the game would put the Tigers back in contention for a very unlikely and fortuitous bowl appearance. Finish 3-0 with wins over Texas A&M and Alabama would salvage his difficult second year in command, although that seems unlikely.

If we can take a deep breath of the grim reality for a moment, almost no one within the program or in the stands at Jordan-Hare Stadium is happy with the way things are going right now.

Therefore, only a big win in the Iron Bowl against Alabama would give Freeze and the fan base a timely boost that everyone is desperately seeking.

Maybe it’s worth coming out of such wildly optimistic dream sequences. After all, this young Tigers team doesn’t appear to be able to pull off a major win, but a change under center could provide a little more hope for the future.

“Payton played pretty solid, but at the same time you start to see the big picture and well, it’s a tough dilemma for you as a coach,” Freeze confessed about the prospect of putting (again) quarterback Payton Thorne on the bench. “When you start to look at the big picture, as opposed to one of your players who hasn’t really done anything wrong, but we’re definitely not winning.”

The last time this happened, of course, Tigers starter Payton Thorne only rode the pine for half the football, before returning to the fold to relieve struggling youngster Hank Brown.

In light of perhaps more imminent changes, if Auburn lost badly to Bama and Texas A&M to close out a calamitous campaign, it would surely put Freeze in an incredibly perilous position.

Talk of $20 million buyout clauses has leaked into bar and internet chatter recently, so Freeze would do well to block such caustic talk altogether.

ESPN’s notoriously outspoken analyst Paul Finebaum even seemed much more disinterested on the ever-increasing trials and tribulations of Freeze and Co. last week.

That in itself paints a pretty depressing picture of where the program currently stands – becoming such a lack of competitive relevance is even more embarrassing for ardent Tigers fans.

Auburn’s dog days as a sleeping giant are definitely not over yet, and that burns pretty darn deep inside him.