aubiefifty

al.com Auburn’s defense didn’t forget about Jaydn Ott’s jabs, played the role of a poked bear vs. Cal Updated: Sep. 12, 2023, 12:27 p.m.|Published: Sep. 12, 2023, 6:00 a.m. 4–5 minutes Auburn’s 14-10 win over Cal on Saturday night wasn’t pretty. Prior to Auburn’s win over Cal, teams that committed four turnovers and neglected to tally at least 15 first downs were just 1-65 since the 2018 season. Now such teams are 2-65 with the Tigers being one of them. “You just don’t win many games like that, so we’re very fortunate,” said first-year head coach Hugh Freeze. “I know this: I don’t know that I’ve ever had a season when you didn’t have a game where you felt like you easily could have lost that game, but boy, our kids found a way.” While it felt like the Tigers nearly did everything in their power to give the game to Cal, the Golden Bears might not have helped themselves in the days leading up to the cross-country matchup. Cal running back Jaydn Ott poked the bear on Wednesday, giving Auburn the kind of material that’s perfect to put on display around the locker room. “There’s a lot of focus on the name ‘Auburn’,” Ott said in a media interview Wednesday. “But what I’ve seen on film is not really in comparison to what their name is. I just want to get that into my guys’ heads that a name doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, they’re still human, and we have just as much of a chance as they do to go in there and get the win.” In his first game of the season against North Texas, Ott rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns, so maybe some of the confidence was warranted. Little did he know, however, that word got back to Auburn’s locker room and some of the players didn’t think too kindly of it. Ott’s words weren’t a huge topic of conversation or affixed to the walls of Auburn’s locker room, Freeze said. “I did mention it in my pregame talk,” Freeze said. “I don’t think that’s the reason we stopped the run. It certainly did get them some motivation, for sure.” Against the Tigers, Ott rushed for 78 yards and touchdown while only averaging 3.9 yards per carry and posting a game long of just 14 yards. Following the game, Auburn defensive lineman Marcus Harris took a jab saying, “I guess they were supposed to run the ball on us or something.” With Ott leading the charge, Cal rushed for 141 yards against the Tigers – a mark well below its 361 rushing yards from the week prior. “We don’t take things like that lightly in terms of how we prepare,” Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante said. “And, you know, when chatter comes — it comes with the game. Some guys are overconfident. Some guys are cocky or arrogant. I’m not saying that Cal is that way, but it just comes with the game. But when we heard it, it really motivated us.” Asante and cornerback Keionte Scott are two guys who really get riled up by outside chatter, said Auburn freshman cornerback Kayin Lee. While they might not pick a fight or go out of their way to seek the outside noise, when they hear it, it digs at them. “They’re going to back it up,” Lee said. “We’re all going to back it up every time.” Scott didn’t have a bad game as he recorded three tackles. But Asante? Asante backed it up. With 12 tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, a sack and two quarterback hurries, Asante played hero ball Saturday night as Auburn leaned on its defense with deadweight as the Tigers’ offense sputtered. Asante’s effort was enough to earn him SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors. Ahead of Saturday’s showdown in Berkeley, Calif., Freeze approached Asante to discuss Ott’s jabs, Asante told reporters Monday. “To be honest, I appreciate (Ott) for saying what he said. I appreciate him for speaking his mind and being truthful of how I feel,” Asante said. “Some players come up here, they: ‘You know, we’re playing a really good opponent.’ And they lie, but he just said what he felt. Like, the truth. What he thought was the truth. So I appreciate him. It helped us a lot.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

247sports.com Freeze says Fair and Johnson need more touches for Auburn offense Jason Caldwell 12–15 minutes Auburn wide receivers Jay Fair and Ja'Varrius Johnson have been the most consistent players at the position. AUBURN, Alabama—This season the Auburn Tigers have completed just 24 passes in two games with 16 of those going to wide receivers. Of those 16 catches, 12 have gone to either Jay Fair or Ja'Varrius Johnson. While they have been the dominant receivers for the Tigers, that’s not enough touches for the duo, said coach Hugh Freeze. “Five and six for us need more touches,” he said. “Those two guys, they're our best receivers. I wish they were bigger, because the catch radius is not big but we've got to improve the others. But those guys are pretty good in space, so we've got to use those guys.” While both are currently slot receivers for the Tigers, something may have to change to allow both guys to get on the field together as they continue to produce while others struggle to get involved in the offense. With only Shane Hooks and Malcolm Johnson Jr. having catches from the wide receiver position in addition to Fair and Johnson (two catches each), the need to find someone else to make plays is a big one heading into this weekend’s game against Samford. “We haven't proven we can do it yet,” Freeze said. “Until you do, we've got to prove we can win some one-on-ones, and get the right balls to them. We've got to improve that room; I've said that since I got here. That's still the case.” Right now that may depend on getting more from Fair and Johnson moving forward. Could that mean putting them on the field together? Freeze said that’s a possibility as he and Philip Montgomery continue to tweak the passing game to try to find more explosive plays down the field. “I don't think either are built to play outside, truthfully,” Freeze said. “Unless you get in 10 personnel -- one of them will have to if you're going to play them both at the same time. I said they needed to get more touches. Does that look like them playing more at the same time? Maybe. We've got to figure that out this week for sure.” The plays from the passing game have to come more consistently for an Auburn attack that is ranked 123rd nationally after two games and is ahead of only Nebraska as the worst Power 5 team in the country. What Fair and Johnson could bring is more explosive plays, something that has been non-existent through two games. Auburn has just 10 passing plays of 10 yards of more, which is tied for 123rd nationally. Seven of those have gone for more than 20 yards, which isn’t a bad number, but the Tigers don’t have a single passing play of 40 or more yards this year. If Auburn wants to challenge the top teams on the schedule, that’s one of the first things that has to change. Auburn takes on the Samford Bulldogs this Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.

i am thinking 3-2 good guys...........

they have an acclaimed forestry program as well or did when i was a rug rat.............

i am lying my butt off...............grins.

you know i am from new jersey right?

i am up for more cobb................

i like DA but our main guy was rusty so i would like to give him a couple more games.

i get it. and i did not say rex was wrong. i do not care for them and their 2.0 chant. i just think Auburn is a wonderful place and has a lot to offer. nothing more. and of course all places have crazies. auburn has a homeless guy wearing some kind of crazy looking pants threatening students here and there. this is according to auburn students on reddit. and the 2.0 thing is political so i am not going to get into it much other than to say i am a lib and i did not care for it. i was stationed in the pentagon for three and a half years and think or did that most southerners were morons. and i am sure cal has some wonderful people but the how cal crowd chanting 2.0 because they think they are superior sticks in my craw and i will not apologize to anyone for it. this is more about cal than rex for the record.

i am pretty sure i am as i am a homer but i was nice right?

i do daily football articles so i see a bunch of them and you are absolutely right! i have seen reporters using each others stuff and changing just enough to make it look legit but they just copied someone else. oddly it seems to happen less in podcasts. now remember i am talking sports but i did want to backup what you were saying.......

how did they finally get rid of the naked man? i always thought it was a great story. it was an interesting look at freedoms as well.

Auburn has some wonderful restaurants and i am pretty sure you can buy craft beers all over the place as well. also auburn fans do not chant 2.0 at the visiting team basically calling southerners stupid. i am an auburn homer and i will die one. and i am pretty sure auburn went out there to play a game and it was considered a big deal by many. i am sure cal has some nice things going for it but at the end of the day i will choose auburn over and over. and i am not sure if you go to auburn to a five star restaurant you will find human feces close to the door. you are welcome to your opinion but i choose to disagree. and in my mind a homie is another word for someone loyal and i am proud to be an auburn homie. but thanks for posting!

Hugh Freeze didn't love Auburn’s two-QB rotation at Cal. What now? Published: Sep. 11, 2023, 3:42 p.m. 6–7 minutes Auburn first-year head coach Hugh Freeze said leading into Saturday’s game at Cal that he intended to use multiple quarterbacks, just as he did in Week 1 during Auburn’s 59-14 win over UMass. He then went on to say that if the Tigers get to 2-0 using two quarterbacks, he might still keep at it. “I know people in this world and day in time (think), you know, you can’t play two quarterback,” Freeze said on Sept. 4. “Well, I don’t know, maybe they’re right. But we’re 1-0, and if we go 2-0 doing it, we’ll keep doing it.” Well, here we are. Auburn is 2-0 after beating Cal 14-10 in a game that likely left many Tigers’ fans reaching for another late-night drink. But perhaps more importantly, the inept performance from Auburn’s offense left Freeze scratching his head with questions. The Tigers totaled 230 yards of offense against the Golden Bears, whose offense managed to tally 273 yards. And of those 230 yards of offense, less than 100 of them came through the air as Auburn was unable to establish any kind of rhythm — let alone threat — in the passing game. Since being named Auburn’s starter in mid-August, junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne has done just that as he started first against UMass and then again Saturday night against Cal. However, unlike his first start against UMass — which saw him pilot the Tigers on an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive — Thorne didn’t help Auburn get out to the start it wanted. Instead, after shoving the football into the belly of Jarquez Hunter on back-to-back plays to see a 3rd and 5 situation, Thorne scrambled around for a first down, only to be stripped of the football as he was spun down to the turf. In his next outing, Thorne was sacked for a loss of seven yards on third down, forcing Oscar Chapman to punt from inside his own endzone. It wasn’t until there was under a minute to play in the first quarter that Thorne completed Auburn’s first pass of the night — a 4-yard toss to Hunter on first down. Even after Thorne hit Jay Fair for on a 13-yard touchdown pass in early in the second quarter, it still felt as though the Tigers’ offense was flat as a board. There was no spark, let alone fireworks. “We just had no juice, no momentum,” Freeze said. “And so you’re kind of searching for it.” On Saturday night in the hills of Berkeley, Calif., the hope was sophomore quarterback Robby Ashford could be what the Tigers were looking for. After all, that was certainly the case against UMass as he rushed for three touchdowns. While Freeze believes in him as a passer, many of Ashford’s packages are designed to tailor to his strengths — meaning Ashford will often be asked to call his own number and tote the ball, or run option plays with Auburn’s committee of running backs. “Robby’s got to get his touches,” Freeze said. “We had a really good package for him, had a good drive going in that package. And then one of our running backs went the wrong way and created a negative play and got us behind the chains. So it was just one thing after another offensively, which ultimately it has to start with me and our offensive staff as to why we did some of the things we did.” Respective to Auburn’s offensive struggles on Saturday night, griping about one negative play is like crying over spilled milk. The Tigers turned the ball over four times as Thorne, Hunter and Damari Alston all had fumbles with Thorne also throwing an interception. And not being able to maintain possession and build a sustainable drive definitely had a negative effect on Auburn’s offensive groove. “I’m not making any excuses because we have to own what’s on the film. But when you turn it over four times and you don’t get a lot of possessions in a game, it’s hard,” Freeze said Freeze added that he wasn’t disappointed with Auburn’s play calling on offense — even when the Tigers completely abandoned the pass game in the third quarter, not throwing a single pass. Not having a firm grasp on who your guy is going to be under center complicates things a lot. Thorne was advertised as a guy who completed more than 60% of his passes and averaged more than 220 passing yards a game at Michigan State. So far, Thorne has checked the first box with a 61% completion percentage through two games. But Thorne is averaging just 117 passing yards per game after going 9-for-14 for just 94 yards against Cal. “We need Payton to play better, truthfully, too,” Freeze said. “I’m not beating up Payton. He played really well that last possession, but we really do need more consistency there throughout the whole game. And that’s our challenge, is to get him and Robby and Holden to that point.” Down four points with just more than 11 minutes to play, Thorne piloted the Tigers on a 10-play, 69-yard march that ended in a 5-yard, go-ahead touchdown to Rivaldo Fairweather. It was Auburn’s longest drive in terms of distance, time of possession and the number of plays. Thorne went 4-for-4 for 56 yards and a passing touchdown in that drive. “The last drive was one we’re going to choose to concentrate on and focus on, and see if we can’t build on that,” Freeze said. “It was inconsistent until that point.” But was that lone drive enough to sell Freeze on Thorne and a more traditional one-quarterback approach? It doesn’t sound that way. However, what it does sound like is that the quarterback situation could look a bit different moving foward. “I do not like the way the other night went with it,” Freeze said. “At the same time, I think Robby has to get his touches. So that is absolutely something that’s on my mind, and we’ve got to figure it out.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

this might be a repeat but lets honor the man again........

Kickoff time, channel announced for Texas A&M’s SEC home opener vs. Auburn Cameron Ohnysty Tue, September 12, 2023 at 1:00 AM CDT·1 min read 0 Texas A&M (1-1) is wholly focused on the UL Monroe Warhawks, who will make their way to Kyle Field next Saturday, but as their Week 4 SEC home opener vs. Auburn looms, the kickoff time and channel has officially been announced for the Sept. 23 matchup. On Monday, it was revealed that the Aggies will need to get a good night’s sleep, as the game is set for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff and will air on ESPN, the new home for the SEC in 2023 and beyond. Texas A&M’s 48-33 road loss to Miami has unleashed a bevy of unwarranted and warranted narratives surrounding Jimbo Fisher and defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin after one of the worst defensive performances seen from the program in quite some time. Auburn is coming off their underwhelming 14-10 road victory vs. Cal, as new head coach Hugh Freeze is 2-0 to start his Auburn career. Both programs have developed a heated rivalry; while the Aggies currently lead the series 12-9, the Tigers hold a 6-5 advantage since Texas A&M entered the SEC in 2012. Last season, in one of the uglier games during the 2022 SEC slate, then interim head coach Cadillac Williams earned his first win, narrowly defeating the Aggies 13-10. Texas A&M will return to Kyle Field to take on Louisiana Monroe on Saturday, Sept. 16, as the game will air on the SEC Network at 3:00 p.m. CT. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty. Story originally appeared on Aggies Wire

saturdaydownsouth.com Ron Roberts, Auburn DC, praises Tigers fans for ‘unbelievable’ traveling support at Cal Sydney Hunte | 1 day ago ~3 minutes Auburn and Cal were locked in a dogfight in Berkeley, but the Tigers eventually prevailed 14-10 thanks to a Payton Thorne touchdown pass with about 8-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation and a late interception with less than 2 minutes to go. The Tigers are now 2-0 in Hugh Freeze’s first season at the helm of the program. Rarely do the Tigers play on the West Coast, but the trip was well worth it for them and the fans in attendance supporting them. Ron Roberts, Auburn’s 1st-year defensive coordinator, was blown away by what he saw, posting this on X on Sunday evening: The AU fans are unbelievable! That showing at Cal was my first road trip and they were awesome!!!!!!WarEagle!!!! — Ron Roberts (@CoachRonRoberts) September 10, 2023 Can’t forget to mention 10k at a West Coast Tiger Walk!!! That is not normal!! Coaches and Players appreciate you!!! #WarEagle — Ron Roberts (@CoachRonRoberts) September 10, 2023 Auburn won’t have any more West Coast trips this season — the furthest West it will go, in fact, is to College Station to face Texas A&M. But the coaching staff, and undoubtedly the players, valued the backing of Tigers fans that were present at Memorial Stadium. Auburn next faces Samford at Jordan-Hare Stadium, a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday.

247sports.com Jason Caldwells Monday morning quarterback column Jason Caldwell 6–8 minutes Talking Auburn football as well as a strong start for Auburn men's golf. Let it fly When I think about what I saw Saturday night in the win over Cal, it brings me back to Auburn’s second game of the 2017 season at Clemson. The Tigers had a transfer quarterback going on the road with a new offensive system and got crushed against a much better opponent that day in Death Valley. Auburn had just 117 yards of total offense in a 14-6 loss against the eventual one-seed in the college football playoffs. The defense was incredible that day, limiting Clemson to under 300 yards of total offense. It was an offense that had guys like Kelly Bryant, Hunter Renfrow, RayRay McCloud, Deon Cain and others. It wasn’t so much about the defense that day, but what the offense looked like that day and what it would eventually look like later in the season. In my opinion it started the next week against Mercer. What most people will remember is how the Tigers struggled to put away the FCS program 24-10, scoring a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put the game away. The thing that I remember about the Mercer game was five turnovers being the biggest issue, with four of them being fumbles. The other thing I remember is Auburn going out and turning Jarrett Stidham loose throwing the football. He responded by going 32-37 for 364 yards and one interception. It didn’t show up that day, but it built some confidence for the offense in the passing game and also showed the opponents that Auburn was capable of throwing the ball down the field. The next nine regular season games, the Tigers scored less than 40 points just twice. One of those came in a 27-23 loss at LSU when Auburn led 20-0 just two minutes into the second quarter. The other was a 26-point showing in the Iron Bowl win over Alabama. I set up all that to say that this weekend might be just the same opportunity for this Auburn offense to just turn it loose and sling the ball all over the field. There’s nothing better for a passing game than live reps and confidence. Auburn has a chance to do both of those things this weekend. It may be time to turn it loose and see what happens. Getting it done I still believe we’re going to continue to see more and more of Keldric Faulk as the season goes along, but right now Marcus Harris looks to be playing at a pretty high level for the Tigers and that’s huge news for this defense. This defense needs a difference maker up front and Harris is showing early on that he could be that guy. In two games, the Montgomery native has a pair of sacks and five total tackles. If he can continue to provide some interior pressure, it would be a big deal for a defense that is off to a good start already. Championship caliber roster The Auburn men’s golf team has a deep and talented group for coach Nick Clinard heading into the 2023-24 season and they’re off to a great start already following a school-record performance of 56-under par in a win in the Maui Jim Intercollegiate hosted by The Mirabel Club. Auburn dominated the event, beating second place Fresno State by 11 shots. After making a strong run in this summer’s U.S. Amateur, true freshman Jackson Koivu couldn’t have had a better start to his career after he matched the school record score of -17 for 54 holes. With J.M. Butler, Brendan Valdes, Carson Bacha and Ryan Eshelman rounding out the record-setting team for the Tigers, this is a team that has the firepower to make a run at a national title this year.

247sports.com PMARSHONAU No time for panic as building process goes on Phillip Marshall 7–8 minutes What is the ceiling for Auburn football team? What is the floor? Auburn’s offensive struggles in Saturday’s 14-10 win at California are no reason for panic. Heck, no one should ever panic after traveling across the country and winning a game. The reality is that, trite though it is to say, this team is a work in progress. Nobody knows yet what its ceiling is or its floor. If Payton Thorne had passed for 300 yards against Cal, would that have meant he was the answer at quarterback? No. Does having a difficult game mean he’s not the answer? No. Does having four turnovers and seven penalties mean Auburn is going to do the same thing in games going forward? Of course it doesn’t. Does a strong performance by Auburn’s defense mean it is ready to shut the door on the powerful offenses it faces down the road? Probably not. Are Auburn’s receivers talented? It seems they are. Did they play well Saturday? They did not. Does that mean they won’t get better? No. Will they get as much better as they need to? No way to know. First-year Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff did a terrific job of raising the talent level through the transfer portal. What Freeze couldn’t do was turn a team coming off two consecutive losing seasons and two years of mostly lost recruiting and raise the talent level to equal the top teams in the SEC. Freeze didn’t do what Deion Sanders did and run off most of his team. Auburn would not have stood for that and would likely not have hired him or anyone else who suggested that. Auburn will have a chance to win most of the games it plays. It will also have a chance to lose most of the games it plays. Auburn is likely to go 4-0 in nonconference games. It will be favored at Vanderbilt. What happens in the other seven games will determine where this season goes. Win or lose, the most important mission this season is to build a foundation that, through recruiting and development, gets Auburn to the level where it wants to be. Be assured Freeze wants to win now, but what he wants most of all is to build a program that stands the test of time. He cautioned before the season that patience would be required. A loss at California would have been quite damaging to this season. Going that far and playing that late and finding a way to win was a big deal, regardless of the score or anything that happened in the game. Auburn should win easily against Samford on Saturday. A week later, the real tests begin at Texas A&M. That’s when we will start to find out the reality of this team, and the process of building a program will go on.

auburnwire.usatoday.com Looking Ahead: How Samford did in Week 2 JD McCarthy ~2 minutes Auburn’s gritty win over Cal is still fresh in everybody’s mind, but it is never too early to look ahead and see how their next opponent is playing. The Tigers are set to return to Jordan-Hare Stadium next week for an in-state showdown with FCS opponent Samford. For the first time all season, Auburn won’t be playing an unbeaten team as the Bulldogs were crushed by Western Carolina 30-7 last week, dropping them to 1-1 on the season. Buy Tigers Tickets The Bulldog offensive line struggled to protect quarterback Michael Hiers who was sacked six times and lost one fumble. They were also held to just 46 yards rushing on 23 carries Samford opened the scoring with a seven-play, 97-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Western Carolina tied it back up on their ensuing drive and pulled away as the Bulldogs struggled to move the ball the rest of the game. Hiers was able to complete 21-of-31 passes for 315 yards and one touchdown. His top target was Ty King who caught three passes for 96 yards. Saturday’s matchup will be the 30th game between these two programs with Auburn having a commanding 28-0-1 record in the series. The game is set to start at 6 p.m. CT and will be on ESPN+ and SEC Network+. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow JD on Twitter @jdmccarthy15.

si.com Takeaways from Coach Freeze’s post-game press conference after Cal Joshua Collins ~3 minutes Coach Hugh Freeze Highlights Coach Ron Roberts and Auburn’s defensive success. With the difficult road test against the Cal Golden Bears behind them, the Auburn Tigers can look ahead to a difficult practice come Monday morning. Despite numerous miscues and offensive mistakes during this matchup against Cal, Auburn’s defensive efforts is what truly led to the win on Saturday evening at Memorial Stadium. Coach Freeze made sure to highlight Coach Ron Roberts and the defensive staff and players. “I’m just really proud of our defense, and the plan that Ron and his staff had to just continue with our backs against the wall,” Freeze said. Coach Freeze continued to pour on the praise for the defense adding that “It just seemed that time and time again they continued to find a way to get us out of trouble to give us the chance to win the game.” Freeze was very candid. “All credit should go to that side of the ball tonight.” There was a slight price to pay with that defensive success however, as it was reported that junior safety Donovan Kaufman and junior cornerback Keionte Scott both sustained injuries during the contest. Kaufman will be under a “concussion protocol” and Scott suffered from some cramping issues. These issues will likely be updated upon as the upcoming week progresses. Coach Freeze will be performing some “Call Ups” this Monday to better address the issues that were present during Saturday evenings game, however it is likely that the offensive front will bear the majority of that burden as the defense played lights out against the Cal Golden Bears.

al.com Why Hugh Freeze didn’t take over playcalling in Auburn’s offensive struggle against Cal Updated: Sep. 11, 2023, 4:27 p.m.|Published: Sep. 11, 2023, 2:11 p.m. 5–6 minutes Hugh Freeze didn’t call many plays out in Berkeley, but the one he did would end up being among the most important of the night. Freeze called the 5-yard fade route for Rivaldo Fairweather in the back corner of the endzone. He told quarterback Payton Thorne to just put the ball up, that he knew Fairweather would make the play. He did. It was the pinnacle play of the one drive where Auburn had any sort of offensive success in a 14-10 win against Cal. Freeze gave up primary playcalling duties coming into this season. He said he no longer felt like he was quite as sharp as he once was. So Freeze hired Philip Montgomery as offensive coordinator with the job of taking on those duties. But Freeze said he still had the right to chime in and call in his own plays. In Week 1 against UMass, Freeze said the balance of calling plays between himself and Montgomery was easy. The offensive output of 59 points and nearly 300 rushing yards would indicate that. Cal was much harder. Auburn’s offense was “awful,” Freeze said. But other than a few fleeting spots, Freeze said he didn’t take over while the offense struggled. “It’s hard, I’m not going to lie,” Freeze said Monday of not taking over playcalling. Auburn had 230 total yards of offense. It had 94 total passing yards between Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford. There were wide receivers who couldn’t get open, penalties which pushed Auburn back and running backs running the wrong way on key third down plays. Everything that seemed like it could have gone wrong on offense did. The stagnant offense against Cal leaves Freeze in the curious position between the role he either should or would like to have calling plays compared to his stated goal of focusing more on the overall team and not boxing himself so much into the offense. Freeze is not at the point of taking play calling back from Montgomery. He said it’s one bad game, and he doesn’t plan to overreact. What he did do was spend time talking to Montgomery after the game about what went wrong. And in the short term, that performance is going to lead to increased oversight from Freeze in game planning. Freeze said he plans to be a bigger part of offensive meetings this week. He suggested he hadn’t spent enough time in those meetings last week. “I can’t be everywhere, but ultimately I have to own everything,” Freeze said. “I spent a lot of time with our defensive guys last week and I’m going to spend a lot of time with our offensive guys this week. But it’s about us all seeking wisdom as to how we can get better, me included.” This isn’t a situation where Freeze is considering pulling playcalling from Montgomery. That isn’t on the table at this point. Freeze said he trusts Montgomery. Stepping into more game preparation meetings will be a means to keep planning on the same page. He wants to be more involved in collaboration. “I didn’t see many awful playcalls, truthfully,” Freeze said. “They all had a chance to work. Nothing schematically was off about it. I think we need a little more balance and we’ve got to figure out what that looks like exactly, that our quarterbacks and receivers can handle. And our RPO world, we didn’t utilize near enough. We’ve got to work on that. So we’ll challenge ourselves to be better this week as coaches and players. So how does this playcalling duo work going forward? Freeze made a few play calls against Cal, including the one that ended up being the game-winning play. Freeze has said before that who called plays could depend on who had the hot hand, so to speak. Yet the inability to find a spark anywhere on offense would appear like the situation where Freeze had implied previously that he could step in. Freeze suggested part of the difficulty Saturday came from an inability to find success on first down, which then prevented Auburn from getting into the high offensive tempo it likes to run. That may have thrown off any play-calling rhythm, too. Freeze said Montgomery doesn’t have an ego regarding the potential of the head coach stepping in to call plays. That may end up being essential to making this work. “It was just totally different from what I expected,” Freeze said. “Again, Philip is going to be fine. 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.” Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

l.com Hugh Freeze didn't love Auburn’s two-QB rotation at Cal. What now? Published: Sep. 11, 2023, 3:42 p.m. 6–7 minutes Auburn first-year head coach Hugh Freeze said leading into Saturday’s game at Cal that he intended to use multiple quarterbacks, just as he did in Week 1 during Auburn’s 59-14 win over UMass. He then went on to say that if the Tigers get to 2-0 using two quarterbacks, he might still keep at it. “I know people in this world and day in time (think), you know, you can’t play two quarterback,” Freeze said on Sept. 4. “Well, I don’t know, maybe they’re right. But we’re 1-0, and if we go 2-0 doing it, we’ll keep doing it.” Well, here we are. Auburn is 2-0 after beating Cal 14-10 in a game that likely left many Tigers’ fans reaching for another late-night drink. But perhaps more importantly, the inept performance from Auburn’s offense left Freeze scratching his head with questions. The Tigers totaled 230 yards of offense against the Golden Bears, whose offense managed to tally 273 yards. And of those 230 yards of offense, less than 100 of them came through the air as Auburn was unable to establish any kind of rhythm — let alone threat — in the passing game. Since being named Auburn’s starter in mid-August, junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne has done just that as he started first against UMass and then again Saturday night against Cal. However, unlike his first start against UMass — which saw him pilot the Tigers on an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive — Thorne didn’t help Auburn get out to the start it wanted. Instead, after shoving the football into the belly of Jarquez Hunter on back-to-back plays to see a 3rd and 5 situation, Thorne scrambled around for a first down, only to be stripped of the football as he was spun down to the turf. In his next outing, Thorne was sacked for a loss of seven yards on third down, forcing Oscar Chapman to punt from inside his own endzone. It wasn’t until there was under a minute to play in the first quarter that Thorne completed Auburn’s first pass of the night — a 4-yard toss to Hunter on first down. Even after Thorne hit Jay Fair for on a 13-yard touchdown pass in early in the second quarter, it still felt as though the Tigers’ offense was flat as a board. There was no spark, let alone fireworks. “We just had no juice, no momentum,” Freeze said. “And so you’re kind of searching for it.” On Saturday night in the hills of Berkeley, Calif., the hope was sophomore quarterback Robby Ashford could be what the Tigers were looking for. After all, that was certainly the case against UMass as he rushed for three touchdowns. While Freeze believes in him as a passer, many of Ashford’s packages are designed to tailor to his strengths — meaning Ashford will often be asked to call his own number and tote the ball, or run option plays with Auburn’s committee of running backs. “Robby’s got to get his touches,” Freeze said. “We had a really good package for him, had a good drive going in that package. And then one of our running backs went the wrong way and created a negative play and got us behind the chains. So it was just one thing after another offensively, which ultimately it has to start with me and our offensive staff as to why we did some of the things we did.” Respective to Auburn’s offensive struggles on Saturday night, griping about one negative play is like crying over spilled milk. The Tigers turned the ball over four times as Thorne, Hunter and Damari Alston all had fumbles with Thorne also throwing an interception. And not being able to maintain possession and build a sustainable drive definitely had a negative effect on Auburn’s offensive groove. “I’m not making any excuses because we have to own what’s on the film. But when you turn it over four times and you don’t get a lot of possessions in a game, it’s hard,” Freeze said Freeze added that he wasn’t disappointed with Auburn’s play calling on offense — even when the Tigers completely abandoned the pass game in the third quarter, not throwing a single pass. Not having a firm grasp on who your guy is going to be under center complicates things a lot. Thorne was advertised as a guy who completed more than 60% of his passes and averaged more than 220 passing yards a game at Michigan State. So far, Thorne has checked the first box with a 61% completion percentage through two games. But Thorne is averaging just 117 passing yards per game after going 9-for-14 for just 94 yards against Cal. “We need Payton to play better, truthfully, too,” Freeze said. “I’m not beating up Payton. He played really well that last possession, but we really do need more consistency there throughout the whole game. And that’s our challenge, is to get him and Robby and Holden to that point.” Down four points with just more than 11 minutes to play, Thorne piloted the Tigers on a 10-play, 69-yard march that ended in a 5-yard, go-ahead touchdown to Rivaldo Fairweather. It was Auburn’s longest drive in terms of distance, time of possession and the number of plays. Thorne went 4-for-4 for 56 yards and a passing touchdown in that drive. “The last drive was one we’re going to choose to concentrate on and focus on, and see if we can’t build on that,” Freeze said. “It was inconsistent until that point.” But was that lone drive enough to sell Freeze on Thorne and a more traditional one-quarterback approach? It doesn’t sound that way. However, what it does sound like is that the quarterback situation could look a bit different moving foward. “I do not like the way the other night went with it,” Freeze said. “At the same time, I think Robby has to get his touches. So that is absolutely something that’s on my mind, and we’ve got to figure it out.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. By browsing this site, we may share your information with our social media partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.