9.12.23 Football Articles

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

si.com

 

Auburn football week three depth chart vs Samford: Tigers change starting linebackers

Lance Dawe

4–5 minutes

---

Auburn's offense didn't have a lot to show against Cal on Saturday night, struggling to cobble together drives while coughing up the ball four times.

However, the defense did more than its part helping Auburn secure a 14-10 win on the road.

Eugene Asante was at the forefront of the stellar defensive performance. Asante led the Tigers with 12 tackles, the most of his career. It’s the second straight game he has led Auburn in tackles (six vs UMass).

Asante will now get the nod at linebacker, starting over Cam Riley according to Auburn's Monday depth chart.

Here’s the entire chart for week three:

Offense

Quarterback

1 Payton Thorne (6-2, 203, Jr.)

9 Robby Ashford (6-3, 218, So.) OR

12 Holden Geriner (6-3, 212, RFr.)

Running back

27 Jarquez Hunter (5-10, 212, Jr.)

22 Damari Alston (5-9, 209, So.)

21 Brian Battie (5-7, 170, Jr.)

Tight end

13 Rivaldo Fairweather (6-4, 251, Jr.) OR

86 Luke Deal (6-5, 257, Jr.)

85 Tyler Fromm (6-5, 241, Sr.) OR

87 Brandon Frazier (6-7, 267, Sr.)

84 Micah Riley-Ducker (6-5, 247, RFr.)

Wide receiver (Z)

14 Jyaire Shorter (6-2, 209, Sr.) OR

19 Omari Kelly (6-0, 178, So.)

0 Koy Moore (6-1, 198, Jr.)

Wide receiver (H)

5 Jay Fair (5-10, 186, So.) OR

6 Ja'Varrius Johnson (5-10, 167, Sr.)

10 Caleb Burton III (5-11, 171, RFr.)

Wide receiver (X)

11 Shane Hooks (6-4, 191, Sr.)

4 Camden Brown (6-3, 203, So.) OR

8 Nick Mardner (6-6, 206, Sr.)

Left tackle

52 Dillon Wade (6-3, 307, Jr.)

63 Jaden Muskrat (6-3, 302, Jr.)

Left guard

77 Jeremiah Wright (6-5, 338, Jr.)

54 Tate Johnson (6-4, 302, Jr.)

Center

66 Avery Jones (6-4, 307, Sr.)

75 Connor Lew (6-3, 290, Fr.)

Right guard

62 Kam Stutts (6-5, 343, Sr.)

50 Jalil Irvin (6-3, 319, Sr.)

Right tackle

53 Gunner Britton (6-6, 312, Sr.)

72 Izavion Miller (6-5, 318, Jr.)

Defense

Defensive end

33 Mosiah Nasili-Kite (6-2, 285, Sr.)

15 Keldric Faulk (6-6, 288, Fr.) OR

91 Zykevious Walker (6-4, 294, Jr.)

Nose tackle

99 Jayson Jones (6-6, 338, Jr.)

52 Justin Rogers (6-3, 346, Jr.)

Defensive tackle

50 Marcus Harris (6-3, 295, Sr.)

92 Lawrence Johnson (6-2, 310, Sr.)

JACK

11 Elijah McAllister (6-6, 271, Sr.)

18 Stephen Sings V (6-3, 248, Jr.) OR

35 Jalen McLeod (6-1, 247, Jr.)

Middle linebacker

30 Larry Nixon III (6-1, 231, Sr.)

32 Wesley Steiner (6-0, 245, Sr.)

Weakside linebacker

9 Eugene Asante (6-1, 222, Jr.)

13 Cam Riley (6-5, 242, Jr.)

Cornerback

4 DJ James (6-1, 164, Sr.)

3 Kayin Lee (5-11, 181, Fr.) OR

24 Colton Hood (5-11, 183, Fr.)

Cornerback

1 Nehemiah Pritchett (6-1, 184, Sr.)

25 Champ Anthony (5-11, 164, So.) OR

23 JD Rhym (6-1, 178, So.)

STAR

0 Keionte Scott (6-0, 188, Jr.)

5 Donovan Kaufman (5-10, 204, Jr.)

Free safety

36 Jaylin Simpson (6-1, 178, Sr.)

39 Griffin Speaks (5-11, 188, Jr.)

Weakside cornerback

10 Zion Puckett (6-0, 226, Sr.)

14 Marquise Gilbert (6-2, 186, Jr.)

16 Terrance Love (6-2, 211, Fr.)

Special teams

Kicker

38 Alex McPherson (5-9, 154, RFr.)

93 Evan McGuire (6-5, 224, So.)

Punter

91 Oscar Chapman (6-3, 204, Sr.)

37 Gabe Russo (6-0, 223, Fr.)

Holder

91 Oscar Chapman (6-3, 204, Sr.)

39 Griffin Speaks (5-11, 188, Jr.)

37 Gabe Russo (6-0, 223, Fr.)

Longsnapper

61 Reed Hughes (6-1, 232, So.)

67 Jacob Quattlebaum (6-1, 234, Sr.)

Punt returner

0 Keionte Scott (6-0, 188, Jr.)

10 Caleb Burton III (5-11, 171, RFr.)

Kick returner

21 Brian Battie (5-7, 170, Jr.)

27 Jarquez Hunter (5-10, 210, Jr.)

---

Other Stories

Auburn basketball releases full 2023-24 schedule

Auburn football week three depth chart: Tigers change starting linebackers before Samford game

Takeaways: Auburn completes comeback against the Cal Golden Bears

Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante had an insane outing vs California

Is a two-quarterback system sustainable?

Five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson flips from Alabama, commits to Auburn

Engage with Auburn Daily on Socials!

Join the Locked on Auburn Discord

Follow Auburn Daily on Twitter

Like Auburn Daily on Facebook

Subscribe to Locked On Auburn on YouTube

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

sports.yahoo.com

 

Auburn football's Hugh Freeze owns up to 'awful' offensive showing, talks what must change

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser

4–5 minutes

---

AUBURN — For the first time in a long time, Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze isn't calling offensive plays.

We knew that already. Freeze assigned those duties in the offseason to offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery.

But that doesn't mean Freeze won't step in to call a play or two from time to time, and that happened on three occasions in Auburn's 14-10 win over Cal on Saturday.

One of those instances, which came late in the fourth quarter with the Tigers down by three points, was a 5-yard fade in the corner of the end zone from transfer quarterback Payton Thorne to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather. Fairweather hauled in the pass to score his first touchdown in an Auburn uniform.

"We actually were leaving the huddle and were going to go 12 personnel and go into block it up," Freeze said after the game. "And I just said, 'Nah, I want to go 13 and give Rivaldo a chance here.' ... I had just seen Rivaldo do that too many times in practice.

"The last thing was I told Payton (was), 'Just make sure it's catchable, and he'll make a play.' And he did."

QUARTERBACKS: Auburn's Hugh Freeze not yet satisfied with two-QB system, but 'Robby's got to get his touches'

A BIG THREAT: Has transfer tight end Rivaldo Fairweather arrived for Auburn football?

It was one of the only things that worked for Auburn's offense against the Golden Bears. The Tigers finished with 94 passing yards, four turnovers and lost the time-of-possession battle, 34:48-25:12. Their 3.6 yards per rush left much to be desired, too.

"Offense was awful," Freeze said Monday. " ... I do believe we had a really good plan offensively, particularly in the second half. And I think we would have scored points had we not turned it over two more times. ... You can't win football games turning the ball over. I thought we were ripping off some pretty good runs and either had a penalty or a turnover for those few possessions that we had in the second half."

Freeze, who wasn't satisfied with how his quarterbacks − Thorne and Robby Ashford − were rotated, has some ideas to get the offense humming. Among those include more touches for Ja'Varrius Johnson and Jay Fair. Fair scored his second touchdown of the season against Cal, a 13-yard catch-and-run over the middle.

Fair is Auburn's leading receiver through two games with 81 yards on seven catches. Johnson has five receptions for 51 yards.

The only issue is, given similar their sizes, they often play the same position.

 

Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze during a game between the Tigers and the California Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium on Sept. 9, 2023.

 

"Those two guys are our best receivers," Freeze said. "Now, I wish they were bigger because the catch radius is not big − and we've got to improve the others − but those guys are pretty good in space. We've got to use those guys more.

"Rivaldo needs to be utilized, and he was well in the second half. But we've got to play to our strengths and figure out how to make it look different every week."

Freeze's ideas will remain just that for now − suggestions for Montgomery to think about when combing through his play sheet on game day.

But Freeze does hope to be more involved moving forward.

"Those are some of the things I challenged (the coaches) with this morning, was how are you going to (play to our strengths)?" Freeze said. "And if you need help, I swear I can help. I'll draw them up and show you how to make them look different.

"But they have the ability to do that. ... We're not overreacting to anything. I have great trust in (Montgomery) and we're going to work together this week on the game plan. He doesn't have an ego; he doesn't care if I step in and call it. I need to probably be in more meetings. ... Again, Philip is going to be fine. We're going to work together this week and see if we can get a great plan in place to not repeat last week's performance."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: What Tigers must change after 'awful' offensive game

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

si.com

 

Eugene Asante named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week

Daniel Locke

2–3 minutes

---

Asante has been a difference-maker in Auburn's first two games and the league has been put on-notice.

After having a hot start to the season, Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante has been named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week for week two.

Asante recorded 12 tackles, one sack and one pass deflection.

"It's surreal," Asante said. "I'm grateful to get the opportunity to be out there and play the game I love with intensity and effort."

Asante acknowledged how much of a journey it was to get to this point. The former North Carolina Tarheel joined Auburn through the transfer portal before the 2022 season.

Asante did not play much during his first season with the Tigers and was mainly used for special teams purposes.

"It was big for me because I played on scout team last year," he said. "That fuels me, being out there. Coach Roberts, Coach Aldridge and this staff gave me an opportunity to show what I can do. I'm forever grateful to them. It was a great game."

Auburn had to dig deep on Saturday, but the Tigers came away with a win.

"In the midst of chaos, there's opportunity," Asante said. "We are our brother's keeper. Not being frustrated, not being disappointed but just going out there with a positive mindset and playing play after play."

---

[aubiefifty 18,259]

auburnwire.usatoday.com

Kickoff time, channel set for Auburn's trip to Texas A&M

Taylor Jones

~2 minutes

The Auburn Tigers will kick off the SEC slate next Saturday, Sept. 23 at Kyle Field against the Texas A&M Aggies.

The SEC announced kickoff times for Sept. 23’s action on Monday, and it has been revealed that Auburn will begin the day with an 11 a.m. CT kickoff against the Aggies in College Station. The game will be televised by ESPN.

Buy Tigers Tickets

Auburn-Texas A&M will be one of two SEC games that will be shown during the early time slot, with Kentucky’s trip to Vanderbilt also receiving the early treatment.

The Tigers enter this weekend’s game with Samford with a 2-0 record, most recently beating California on the road Saturday night. Texas A&M is 1-1 after dropping its first game of the season at Miami last Saturday. The Aggies host UL-Monroe this Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.

Auburn owns a 6-5 advantage over Texas A&M since the Aggies’ SEC arrival in 2012. Auburn boasts a 4-1 record at Kyle Field. Last season, Auburn defeated Texas A&M, 13-10, at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The win was the first for interim head coach Cadillac Williams, who finished his campaign at 2-2.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

[aubiefifty 18,259]

247sports.com

Auburn defense excited to get McLeod back on the field rushing the passer

Jason Caldwell

5–6 minutes

VIDEO: Hugh Freeze looks back on Cal game

Hugh Freeze knows his passing game is still in its infancy in Year 1 at Auburn. There’s plenty of time — even one more tune-up game for the Tigers before seven straight SEC contests — to get everybody closer to the same page.

Wherever Auburn is headed with its quarterbacks, though, Freeze also knows it has to be the opposite direction of what he saw Saturday against Cal.

“I don't know that that's exactly what I want it to look like,” Freeze said of his quarterback rotation. “But we just had no juice, no momentum, and so you're kind of searching for it.”

Auburn had just 94 passing yards in its 14-10 win over the Golden Bears on Saturday night, as the quarterbacks’ performance — namely Payton Thorne — was rendered almost entirely ineffective until the 10-play, 69-yard drive that saw Thorne throw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Rivaldo Fairweather with 6:31 remaining.

Thorne went 9-of-14 with 94 yards, a pair of touchdowns, an interception and a lost fumble. Robby Ashford took over the quarterback spot on 14 plays and was given more than just a red-zone role, but he went just 1-of-3 passing with no yardage — including a dropped interception by Cal.

Until the go-ahead touchdown drive, Thorne was 0-of-3 passing on third down, and the Tigers had just one completion of double-digit yardage — Thorne’s 13-yard touchdown to Jay Fair on a crossing route.

Freeze said the performance was a melting pot of issues, and that the coaching staff needs to put the offense in better positions to succeed when the game takes a strange turn like it did. But he’s still going to expect more from his fifth-year senior QB.

“We need Payton to play better, truthfully,” Freeze said. “Now, the last drive he played well. Prior to that I think a few of the throws were inaccurate. I thought he left the pocket early once.And look, 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.”

Granted, Thorne didn’t have many open receivers to throw to. Freeze said there weren’t many missed reads on Thorne’s part in the run-pass option element of the passing game, and that the receivers’ routes were inconsistent. Of Thorne’s nine completions, only three went to wide receivers.

“You sure hope so,” Freeze said when asked if he believes his receivers can improve. “We haven't proven we can do it yet. 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.”

Freeze tried switching things up by putting Ashford in the game not just in red-zone settings, like the previous week against UMass. The redshirt junior shared snaps with Thorne on eight of the team’s 13 possessions. Ashford’s usage was derailed, though, by Auburn’s myriad of mistakes, including penalties and decisions that took Auburn out of its rhythm offensively.

Freeze maintained that Ashford will continue to play for the Tigers moving forward, but he knows things have to be more efficient and smooth than they were for the backup QB on Saturday. Part of that game plan was also thrown by the fact that the Tigers were behind in time of possession by almost 10 minutes, and ran just 55 plays, their fewest in a game since the 2020 season. Auburn didn’t even attempt a pass on nine plays in the third quarter.

“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. We don't control the fumbles necessarily but there were other things that happened that caused us negative plays that maybe we need to coach better.”

A tune-up opportunity against Samford this weekend (6 p.m. CDT, ESPN+) will give Freeze and his quarterbacks a chance to continue to sort through a blueprint for their best possible usage.

All they know right now, though, is that what they tried in California didn’t work at all.

“That's the big challenge,” Freeze said of finding the right quarterback rotation. “I do not like the way the other night went with it. … That is absolutely something that's on my mind, and we've got to figure it out.”

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

247sports.com

 

PMARSHONAU Thoughts and impressions after Freeze talks

Phillip Marshall

5–6 minutes

---

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze made it clear at his Monday press conference that he believed going into last Saturday’s game against Cal that the Tigers could pile up big yards running the football. That didn’t happen, largely because of a shocking rash of turnovers and penalties.

Until the drive to the winning touchdown in a 14-10 victory, Auburn’s offense was a mess. When it wasn’t turning the ball over or getting penalties, things seemed disjointed. Quarterback Payton Thorne made plays to win the game, but he rarely looked comfortable. Backup Robby Ashford was in and out and also ineffective.

Was part of that the result of Freeze and offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery not being on the same wave length? Freeze didn’t say that, but combining two offensive systems and sharing play-calling is a challenge.

“I called three things in that game,” Freeze said. “It's hard, I'm not going to lie. 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. And that's kind of where we were. Every time we did get an explosive one, a run on the reverse or something, there's another penalty. And we did everything that we didn't do in the first game. We didn't have turnovers, we didn't have penalties (against UMass), and dang if we didn't look like it was the first game offensively.”

Freeze said Auburn couldn’t get into its tempo offense because it wasn’t getting enough first downs. He said there should have been more RPOs and more deep balls called. He said the offense has to do a better job of getting the ball in the hands of the best players. He said he still believes the Tigers would have run for 250 yards or more had it not been for the frequent disruptions of turnovers and penalties.

This time, the defense saved the day. That might not happen next time. Auburn could face the possibility of losing to anybody with a repeat performance by the offense. Freeze said he has “great trust” in Montgomery and that they will work together to resolve the issues that arose on Saturday night.

Whether it’s Saturday’s game against Samford or the much bigger games down the road, the offense can’t afford to play like that again and probably won’t. It’s up to Auburn’s coaches to figure it out.

***

The defense continued to be praised, and for good reason. Despite some of the better players being sidelined with injuries – mostly minor – the Tigers turned Cal away over and over again until the offense finally mounted a drive and won the game.

***

Freeze made a statement that got my attention, and probably needs to get the attention of others.

“I’m still learning this team, and they are still learning me,” Freeze said. And it’s not just the players. Other than those that came from Liberty, Freeze and his coaching staff are working together for the first time.

***

Before last Saturday’s game, Cal running back Jaydn Ott had some most uncomplimentary things to say about Auburn’s defense. In the game, he looked like a decent running back but nothing extra special. He left with an injury after trying to jump over an Auburn player and getting knocked high into the air.

The problem with such pregame talk isn’t that it makes the other team play better. It’s that the player doing the talking makes himself a target. Even before the play on which he was injured, Dye had taken quite a beating.

***

It’s a popular pastime for fans these days to “evaluate” what they see on the field. But what they believe they are seeing is not always what’s happening. So it was with Auburn’s offensive line against Cal.

“I thought they did fine, truthfully,” Freeze said. “I thought they handled the movements and stuff really well. There was one breakdown in protection. The others I think we kind of caused, setting the protection wrong or moving out of the pocket too early. I think, again, without the turnovers, I think you're looking at another 250-yard-plus rushing night. I thought they were doing a fine job of run-blocking.”

***

Clearly, Freeze was not pleased with Thorne’s performance before the winning touchdown drive. He, like almost everyone, also wasn’t comfortable with the haphazard way in which backup Robby Ashford was used.

That must be fixed, and there is no reason it can’t be fixed. Writing Thorne off because of one game is not going to happen and should not happen. He is an experienced quarterback who has played and succeeded in big games.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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. 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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

 

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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+.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

al.com

Goodman: Auburn football feels like a mystery by design

Updated: Sep. 12, 2023, 12:23 p.m.|Published: Sep. 12, 2023, 6:39 a.m.

6–7 minutes

**Editor’s Note: Joseph Goodman’s popular college football picks feature, “Joe vs. the Pro and the Hero,” is adding readers to the action. Pick your Week 3 games here, and sign up for Joe’s newsletter to see how your picks compare to the experts (and Joe) as well as other readers.

________________________

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.

RELATED: Freeze on QBs, ‘We’ve got to figure it out’

RELATED: Why Freeze didn’t take over play-calling

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.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

wbrc.com

 

Auburn prepares for homecoming weekend against Samford

Jake Stansell

~2 minutes

---

AUBURN, Ala. (WBRC) - Auburn is off to a nice 2-0 start to begin the college football season after grabbing a late 14-10 win against Cal on the west coast this past Saturday. It marks the Tigers’ first win in the Golden State in four tries.

Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze took to the podium late Monday morning following this weekend’s game to give opening remarks ahead of the upcoming game against Samford. Freeze credited the defense and mentioned how the defensive unit continues to find ways to get the Tigers out of trouble.

When it comes to the series history with Samford, Auburn has never lost to the Bulldogs with the latest matchup coming back in 2019 when the Tigers blew out Samford, 52-0. Freeze understands the season is only going to get more challenging as there will be plenty of local interest with the Bulldogs paying a visit to The Plains.

“Did we improve from week one to week two? Absolutely,” Freeze said. “Now, are we fixed yet and ready to say we’re going to dominate and hold every opponent to 10 points? I’d like to say that, but that’s not accurate. We got to keep working because tougher tests are coming.”

Kickoff between Samford and Auburn at Jordan Hare Stadium is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.

Copyright 2023 WBRC. All rights reserved.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

sports.yahoo.com

 

4-star defensive lineman Jourdin Crawford to visit Auburn

JD McCarthy

1–2 minutes

---

Auburn football is returning to the Plains this weekend and there will be several important visits for their game against Samford.

One of them is four-star defensive lineman Jourdin Crawford, who is from Birmingham, Alabama. Crawford announced on social media that he was “looking forward” to visiting Auburn this weekend.

The 6-foot-1.5, 300-pounder is a member of the 2025 recruiting cycle and is being recruited by Auburn defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett. The Tigers have already landed one four-star defensive lineman in the 2025 cycle in Malik Autry.

Crawford is the No. 202 overall player and No. 23 defensive lineman in the 247Sports composite ranking. He is also the No. 12 player from Alabama.

He is enjoying a strong start to his season for Parker High School, having made 11 tackles, 5.0 sacks and one fumble recovery in three games.

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.

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]