Hugh Freeze may be friends with Nick Saban, but, as you know, that is a distant second when it comes to the Iron Bowl.

Freeze, the new Auburn coach, sat down with SI this week for a wide-ranging interview, including his relationship with the Alabama coach.

“Yeah, I want to beat the crap out of him during the Iron Bowl, but we are friends,” Freeze told SI.

He certainly has had as much success as anyone in that endeavor.

Freeze is one of three active head coaches who has beaten Saban at least twice. He beat Alabama in 2014 and 2015 with his Ole Miss teams. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney and UCF coach and former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn are the others.

Speaking of Malzahn, he was asked if he thought Freeze would challenge Saban?

“He will,” Malzahn said.

Malzahn, who led the Tigers on The Plains from 2013-2020, told SI that Freeze is the man for the job at Auburn. A job, he added, where you can win the national championship.

“I think Auburn and Hugh is a really good match,” Malzahn said. “Auburn is an unbelievable place. Hugh is really, really good. I’m excited for both parties. You can win the whole thing there. Unbelievable fan base and support. He’s coming at a great time with NIL and the new facility. Everything came together.”

Check out the full story here.

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at Mark_Heim.