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This is an opinion column.

Auburn will always and forever remain the SEC’s flat circle of Southern football peculiarity and high strangeness.

What in the name of 10 years ago is happening down on the Plains? Old friend Bryan Harsin is gone, but once again we’re back to wondering if the head football coach is going to take over the play-calling duties.

In the Tigers’ first real test under new coach Hugh Freeze, the offense registered four turnovers, only managed 12 first downs but — despite everything — won in the state of California for the first time in program history. It was heroically ugly. It was bizarrely beautiful. It was, naturally, just Auburn being Auburn, which means comfortably curious in every way.

“That game went nothing like I expected — I just got to tell you,” Freeze said on Monday. “I guess that’s good and bad.”

Auburn delivered a 14-10 victory against Cal over the weekend. It was good because Auburn plays Texas A&M in two weeks and the Aggies, based on everything we’ve seen out of Freeze’s Tigers, have absolutely no clue what to expect. It was bad in the sense that Auburn goes to College Station, Texas, in half a moon and Freeze doesn’t really know what’s going on with his team either.

Or at least that’s what Freeze wants people to believe.

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CASAGRANDE: The ugly reality of Week 2

GOODMAN: Is the dynasty over for Nick Saban?

Freeze’s big thing this season are these get-togethers he calls “truth meetings,” but the more I hear Freeze talk about his team the less and less I know what to believe. Funny how that works. On Monday, the truth meeting, according to Freeze, “had a lot of tough talks.”

“It’s high time that no one has an ego,” Freeze said.

Presumably, Freeze was either talking about the quarterbacks, offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery or all of the above. Montgomery is calling the plays (for now), and the quarterbacks are a major work in progress.

“It was totally different than what I expected,” Freeze said, “but Philip is going to be fine and we’re going to work together this week and see if we can’t get a great plan in place to not repeat last week’s performance.”

Who is the best quarterback? Who should be calling plays? These things will work themselves out eventually. Here’s all that really matters, and this shouldn’t be lost on anyone. No matter how it happened, there’s nothing bad about being undefeated going into homecoming week, and that’s exactly where Auburn finds itself to start the 2023 season.

For the first time in years, Auburn alums and students have something to be hopeful about while other powerhouses in the SEC have faltered in more ways than simply losing on the field.

“Ultimately, the bottom line is, our kids found a way to win, and we celebrate that,” Freeze said on Monday. “You can write it however you want to write it, but the bottom line is the Auburn Tigers are 2-0 and we celebrate that.”

How about let’s write it this way.

Auburn might have won ugly, but at least the Tigers didn’t lose badly.

At least Auburn students didn’t scream racist and homophobic slurs at the opposing team’s players like the fanbase for cross-state team Alabama. The dynasty is cracking in Tuscaloosa, and at the first sign of trouble there is a new video making the rounds this week of a racist Alabama fan screaming hate speech at Texas players during the Crimson Tide’s 34-24 loss.

Want to talk about ugly football? Clean it up, Alabama, or prepare for a long walk through the desert after Saban calls it quits.

Giving up 21 points in the fourth quarter on Bryant-Denny Field is one thing. Being the cause of people around the world losing respect for the University of Alabama and the state is something far worse.

Auburn isn’t Alabama today, and in more ways than one that can be considered good news.

All Auburn did against Cal was play tough on a bad day and somehow, someway still find a way to win. When Auburn needed courage in the fourth quarter, Freeze said the offense had banked it away thanks to positive encouragement from the defense the entire game. For me, that’s the best sign of all.

“You can build on stuff like that,” Freeze said. “I don’t think anyone stopped believing. Really proud of that growth that we can use to build on for sure.”

How many third and fourth quarters did Auburn give away under its former coach? Those teams were thin on belief. This one is already relying on it to win a game it probably should have lost.

Auburn won a non-conference away game against a Power 5 team when so many other, more celebrated teams in the SEC West already have one loss on the season. Texas A&M and Alabama were the big disappointments in Week 2. In Week 1, it was LSU fading in the second half against Florida State.

At Alabama, Nick Saban continues with his struggles to keep up with the modern game.

Down at LSU, Brian Kelly looks like the SEC’s new Gus Malzahn.

Over at Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher is on the hot seat.

All things considered, Auburn has to be happy with where it stands two weeks into the 2023 season. Where does Auburn stand exactly? No one is quite sure, but it’s somewhere between Haven’t A Clue and Timbuktu.

The Tigers remain a mystery, and I’m pretty sure that’s how the new coach wants it to be.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, hope and rum. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.