9.25.23 Football Articles

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Tigers of the Game: Asante, Battie carry the load on Saturday

Taylor Jones

2–3 minutes

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The SEC opener at Texas A&M was anything but strong for the Auburn Tigers.

Auburn managed to gain just 200 yards of offense while allowing Texas A&M to post 402 yards in their 27-10 loss. Auburn could not force a turnover, they allowed seven sacks to happen, and they were penalized 10 times.

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Despite the negativity, there were several bright spots to mention, including the performances of two players, Eugene Asante and Brian Battie.

Following the game, Auburn Wire writers as well as Auburn fans revealed their picks for “Tiger of the Game” after the tough loss, here are the results.

Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Asante was the defensive MVP of Saturday’s game by recording nine total tackles. He also scooped up a fumble in the 4th quarter and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown, the only one for Auburn today.

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn had another ho-hum day on the ground, but one player found the top of the stat sheet for the first time in his Auburn career. USF transfer Brian Battie rushed for 59 yards on eight carries in Saturday’s game.

Logan Riely/Getty Images

Not only did Battie lead the offense in rushing, but he also had the best game of his short time in an Auburn uniform. Prior to Saturday’s game, Battie’s season-high was 31 yards on eight carries in Auburn’s 59-14 season-opening win over UMass.

Austin Perryman/Auburn Athletics

Auburn fans have spoken, and their pick for Tiger of the Game is linebacker Eugene Asante. Asante won 85% of the vote, beating out players such as kicker Alex McPherson, running back Brian Battie, and cornerback Jaylin Simpson.

To vote for the “Tiger of the Game” each week, head over to Auburn Wire’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account to vote.

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al.com

 

Auburn report card: Grading another ugly showing from the offense in Texas A&m loss

Updated: Sep. 24, 2023, 6:28 p.m.|Published: Sep. 24, 2023, 6:05 a.m.

6–8 minutes

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Auburn lost 27-10 in its SEC opener on the road against Texas A&M on Saturday. No need to sugarcoat it, the offense was awful.

So, it’s time for postgame grades to recap this ugly start to conference play. There are some bigger-picture takeaways. Those are on their way. But for now, these grades will focus on Saturday’s game alone.

Offense: F

I wrote our grades piece against Cal and gave Auburn’s offense just better than an F because it found a way to have a good drive to win the game. That was the only reason Auburn didn’t get an F that day.

This was worse.

Sure, it was against a better opponent, but it showed so many facets of an Auburn offense that don’t appear up to the task of SEC play through one game now.

Auburn’s offensive line was beaten to the tune of allowing seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss. That’s bad, very bad. Auburn only had 56 passing yards and that’s including all three quarterbacks playing in this game.

Auburn’s first four drives of the second half were as follows:

- Three plays, -9 yards

- Three plays, 0 yards

- Three plays, 1 yard

- Three plays, -17 yards

That’s backbreaking, and it didn’t matter which quarterback was playing. Head coach Hugh Freeze detailed significant mistakes in quarterback decision-making to miss open receivers. There were also overthrows from multiple quarterbacks on plays that could have easily been touchdowns. And that is just the times the receivers were open, which were not frequent.

It didn’t matter which quarterback was playing, and that was the same issue against Cal. There are some broad issues here that don’t stem from any one facet of this offense, coaching or players alike.

Just about pick anything on offense and it was bad. The only points scored were a 53-yard Alex McPherson field goal on a drive where Auburn started on the Texas A&M side of the field.

Auburn had 200 total yards of offense. It averaged 3.1 yards per play.

This was a total, complete, all-systems failure.

But in a way where it was easy to say throw the film away from the Cal game, this performance — showing many of the same problems the offense has shown against lesser opponents resurfacing against an SEC defense — may show systemic issues. More on that in future stories.

Defense: B

This defense can only carry Auburn for so long. It’s done so since the moment it took the field against Cal and held firm until the second half Saturday.

Eugene Asante had a fumble return for a touchdown in what was maybe Auburn’s only bright spot for the whole game. Kayin Lee was a bright spot, too, forcing the fumble on that same play.

But eventually, the bend-don’t-break defense finally broke. It’s spent game after game bailing out a stagnant offense, and frankly, that can’t last forever.

After allowing just 121 yards in the first half, the defense gave up 281 yards and 21 points in the second half.

Auburn held Texas A&M starter Connor Weigman off to a slow start before his first-half injury and the emergence of Max Johnson in a heroic backup performance sunk the Tigers. One 79-yard rush to Amari Daniels when the result of the game was largely in hand also inflated some Texas A&M offense numbers.

Overall, not bad. But the second half falters didn’t help an Auburn offense that needed a lot of help.

Special teams: A-

If the punting was really good as a whole, that’s probably not a good sign about how a game went. Oscar Chapman averaged just over 40 yards per punt and made a quite athletic play in the first half to get a punt off despite a Reed Hughes snap that was high over his head and mishandled.

McPherson made a 53-yard field goal but that was his only kick of the game.

Not a ton of action from the special teams, but nothing bad from this group either.

It was interesting seeing Koy Moore used as the primary kick returner after cornerback Keionte Scott’s long-term ankle injury. He had been the punt returner. Auburn had tried many options here to replace Scott including Jay Fair, Jaylin Simpson and Ja’Varrius Johnson but seemed to go with Moore. It did need a bit of a double take, though, as Moore and Scott wear the same No. 0.

Coaching: B-

I feel like I’ve written this point before. As a whole, defensive coordinator Ron Roberts had a good game plan. It’s hard to account for a quarterback injury in that game plan. And overall, Auburn’s defense played well before it wore down.

But the penalties and decision-making on offense were once again confounding and confusing.

Auburn was penalized 10 times for 64 yards, albeit at least three of them appeared as intentionally getting a delay of game flag to make more room for a punt into the Texas A&M half of the field.

All five of Auburn’s starting offensive linemen were penalized.

The quarterback rotation was again used to provide a spark on offense but didn’t seem to make a ton of sense at times as Thorne made some seemingly random appearances after it appeared command of the offense had been passed Robby Ashford for this game.

Hugh Freeze has some serious questions again on this offense about who the quarterback will be and who will block for them. Thorne hasn’t been productive other than the second half against Samford. Ashford and Holden Geriner are unreliable, and it would be hard to argue starting them seeing as No. 1 Georgia is Auburn’s next opponent.

This is a huge conundrum.

Overall: C

The offense is the story and it’s hard to really look at anything else. It was abysmal, plain and simple.

There were some other solid parts of the performance to build on, but it’s hard to give any better grade than this after a performance like ~that~.

The problem is it’s not as if Auburn has a chance to work on this. Georgia is next. Then a bye week followed by LSU on the road and Ole Miss in Auburn. For a group lacking solutions on offense, that’s about as brutal a stretch of games as a team can get.

These are the types of games Auburn’s transfers said they came to the SEC to play: to play top teams in big venues and find ways to win. Auburn’s transfers got that chance Saturday and were severely outmatched.

They’ll have more chances, but Saturday in Texas wasn’t promising.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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al.com

 

Auburn’s defense ‘fought and fought’ against TAMU, but that proved moot without a competent offense

Updated: Sep. 24, 2023, 12:47 p.m.|Published: Sep. 24, 2023, 11:55 a.m.

5–7 minutes

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After Auburn’s lackadaisical win over Cal in the hills of Berkeley, Calif. on Sept. 9, folks learned Eugene Asante’s name. Auburn fans saw his heart and athletic ability. In that same game, they also saw the ineptitude of the Tigers’ offense.

The entire showing – both Asante’s breakout game and the Auburn offense’s struggles – paved the way for some fans jokingly asking if Asante could play on offense, too.

In a roundabout way, that happened Saturday afternoon in College Station as Auburn (3-1, 0-1 SEC) fell to Texas A&M (3-1, 1-0 SEC) 27-10.

Auburn freshman Kayin Lee dislodged the football out of the hands of Texas A&M’s Rueben Owens, only for it to fall right in the hands of Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante.

“I was on the backside of the play just trying to run in and be in on situations, trying to make a play for my team,” Asante said. “Coach kind of talks about… God rewards people that hustle to the football and it was just one of those situations.”

Asante went on to return the popped-up fumble for a 67-yard touchdown — Auburn’s only of the game — to bring the Tigers within 10 points of the Aggies with just more than 12 minutes to play, but not before he sprinted past Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, who inadvertently found himself in the middle of the play.

“I’m lucky I didn’t get ran over,” Fisher said after the game.

The video of Fisher’s poor tackling form went viral on social media as “12th man” puns poured in.

It was funny. People joked about it.

But joking matters aside, Asante’s play in the fourth quarter was just another example of the Auburn defense doing everything it could to keep Auburn’s head above water on Saturday afternoon.

It was the same thing we’d seen in Berkley, CA. as the Tigers’ defense shouldered the load in an ugly 14-10 win against the Cal Golden Bears, who — for the record — lost to No. 8 Washington 59-32 late Saturday night.

While the Auburn offense cycled through three quarterbacks who totaled less than 60 combined passing yards against Texas A&M, the Tigers’ defense couldn’t catch a break.

Despite Hugh Freeze saying all week leading into Saturday’s matchup against the Aggies that the Tigers’ offense would have to stay clear of many third-and-long situations, whether it was Payton Thorne, Robby Ashford or Holden Geriner under center, it didn’t matter – the third-and-long situations came.

That was especially the case in the third quarter, when the Auburn offense saw three third-down opportunities.

The Tigers committed a pre-snap penalty in two of those opportunities, backing them up well behind the sticks. The average distance to go on third down was more than 17 yards during the third quarter.

“Penalties certainly did not help us,” Freeze said. “They came at difficult times.”

The Auburn offense neglected to convert a single third down and only tallied 10 total offensive snaps in the third quarter.

And what that meant for the Auburn defense was that it better not get comfortable on the sideline, because it wasn’t going to be off the field long. And that’s when the bend in the Tigers’ defense turned to break.

The Auburn defense, which had allowed just 121 yards of offense in the first half, had reached its breaking point.

“They fought and fought,” Freeze said of the Auburn defense. “Obviously they gave up a few explosive plays in the third quarter, but we didn’t help them. I don’t know the timing -- it’s not broken down by quarter -- it couldn’t have been good. I think that took the gas out of our defense.”

With Auburn’s offense unable to sustain a drive of more than three plays in the third quarter, the Tigers had possession of the football for a total time of 5:03.

And that meant the Tigers’ defense had to be the field for more than two thirds of the third quarter.

While his defense was running on fumes doing everything it could to give the Tigers a fighting chance, Auburn starting quarterback Payton Thorne stood on the sideline dejected and with his arms crossed after being benched. He was pouting.

Then you’ve got guys like Asante, whose heart and desire to win football games for Auburn is evident each time he steps on the field.

“There’s no question of the effort he’s going to give,” Freeze said. “It hurts him when we don’t succeed, and you see that in his face.”

One has to wonder if after his touchdown — which brought Auburn within 10 points with more than 12 minutes to play — Asante had a sliver of belief in his offense to complement his touchdown with one of their own.

Auburn was able to do that at Cal as Thorne connected with Rivaldo Fairweather for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter after the Tigers’ defense came away with a big stop.

But on Saturday against SEC competition – which is what the Tigers will see for the next six games – the offense couldn’t answer the call.

So expect the sarcasm-charged “Can Eugene Asante play on offense too?” questions to continue.

And hopefully, as Asante says, God keeps rewarding people that hustle to the football in the form of turnovers. Because until something major changes on offense, Auburn is gonna need it.

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al.com

 

Auburn NFL roundup: Former Tigers aid Green Bay’s rally

Updated: Sep. 25, 2023, 12:01 a.m.|Published: Sep. 24, 2023, 11:50 p.m.

6–7 minutes

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Kicker Anders Carlson and safety Rudy Ford helped the Green Bay Packers stage a rare comeback on Sunday in an 18-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

The Packers became the third NFL team in this century to win after they failed to score in the first three quarters and trailed by at least 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Carlson made both his kicks in the game. The rookie connected on a 38-yard field goal with 11:00 to play, then knocked through the deciding extra point after Green Bay’s second touchdown of the period with 2:56 remaining. (The Packers successfully went for 2 after their first touchdown.)

A former New Hope High School star, Ford tied for the team lead with seven tackles and broke up two passes. He had four of the tackles and one of the pass breakups in the fourth quarter.

The other comebacks equal to the Packers’ Sunday rally are a 24-21 victory by the Tennessee Titans over the New York Giants on Nov. 26, 2005, when Auburn alumnus Rob Bironas made a 49-yard field goal with six seconds to play, and a 21-17 victory by the Carolina Panthers over the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 21, 2018, when Auburn alumnus Cam Newton threw two touchdown passes in the final 4:08.

Carlson and Ford were among the 21 former Auburn players who got on the field on the third Sunday of the NFL’s 104th season.

One other other former Auburn players was involved in the New Orleans-Green Bay game:

· Packers defensive lineman Colby Wooden did not record any stats.

In the other Sunday games:

Indianapolis Colts 22, Baltimore Ravens 19 (OT)

· Ravens guard Tashawn Manning is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Braden Smith started at right offensive tackle for the Colts.

Cleveland Browns 27, Tennessee Titans 3

· Titans cornerback Roger McCreary (Williamson) made 10 tackles and recorded his first NFL sack.

· Titans quarterback Malik Willis replaced starter Ryan Tannehill on Tennessee’s final possession with 66 seconds to play and handed off twice.

Houston Texans 37, Jacksonville Jaguars 17

· Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby had 10 yards and one touchdown on two rushing attempts. Bigsby scored his second NFL touchdown on a 1-yard run as the Jaguars cut Houston’s lead to 17-7 with 11:17 left in the third quarter.

· Jaguars defensive tackle Angelo Blackson did not record any stats.

· Jaguars safety Daniel Thomas (Lee-Montgomery) made one tackle on special teams.

· Jaguars wide receiver Seth Williams (Paul Bryant) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Texans offensive tackle Kilian Zierer is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.

Miami Dolphins 70, Denver Broncos 20

· Dolphins defensive tackle Byron Cowart is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham dressed for the game but did not play.

Los Angeles Chargers 28, Minnesota Vikings 24

· Chargers long snapper Josh Harris handled the snaps on four extra points, three punts and one field goal.

New England Patriots 15, New York Jets 10

· Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones was designated as a game-day inactive. Jones missed last week’s game because of an ankle injury, too.

· Jets defensive end Carl Lawson made one tackle.

· Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood made two tackles.

· Jets tight end C.J. Uzomah had a 9-yard reception.

Seattle Seahawks 37, Carolina Panthers 27

· Derrick Brown started at defensive tackle for the Panthers. Brown made five tackles and registered two quarterback hits.

· Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made one tackle, registered one quarterback hit and broke up one pass.

· Panthers outside linebacker Eku Leota is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

· Panthers linebacker Chandler Wooten made two tackles on special teams.

Arizona Cardinals 28, Dallas Cowboys 16

· Cowboys cornerback Noah Igbinoghene (Hewitt-Trussville) did not record any stats.

· Cardinals inside linebacker Owen Pappoe did not record any stats.

Kansas City Chiefs 41, Chicago Bears 10

· Chiefs offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho played right tackle and left tackle. After playing two offensive snaps in Kansas City’s first two games this season, Wanogho replaced Jawaan Taylor at right tackle after the starter got two illegal-formation penalties in the first half. Wanogho shifted to left tackle when Donovan Smith got hurt. But Wanogho left with a quadriceps injury after getting hurt on an interception return.

Pittsburgh Steelers 23, Las Vegas Raiders 18

· Montravius Adams started at nose tackle for the Steelers. Adams made two tackles.

· Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson made a 26-yard field goal with 2:22 left to play and connected on his only extra point.

· Raiders tight end John Samuel Shenker is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.

Week 3 started on Thursday night, when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New York Giants 30-12.

Week 3 concludes on Monday, when the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers square off a 6:15 p.m. CDT at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals meet at 7:15 p.m. at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. ABC will televise the Eagles-Bucs game, and ESPN will televise the Rams-Bengals game.

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[gr82be 14,913]

10 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Carlson made both his kicks in the game. The rookie connected on a 38-yard field goal with 11:00 to play, then knocked through the deciding extra point after Green Bay’s second touchdown of the period with 2:56 remaining. (The Packers successfully went for 2 after their first touchdown.)

 

10 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson made a 26-yard field goal with 2:22 left to play and connected on his only extra point.

Anders and Daniel are both perfect for the season so far. Anders is 3/3 FG and 9/9 XP. Daniel is 3/3 FG and 4/4 XP. 

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si.com

LOOK: Computer model favors Auburn, Hugh Freeze over Georgia Bulldogs

Lance Dawe

3–4 minutes

Betting lines currently favor Georgia over Auburn this weekend by about 14 points.

Considering the Tigers' disappointing offensive performance against Texas A&M this weekend, the line makes sense. The Bulldogs' talent in the trenches alone should aid them in a road victory on The Plains.

However, there's a computer model out there that currently disagrees.

College Football Nerds, an excellent YouTube channel that does a phenomenal job analyzing and breaking down not only just college football as a whole, but individual matchups through numbers, has a computer model that they rely on to help predict games as the season goes on.

The channel puts an emphasis on waiting until later in the schedule to truly listen to what the model has to say about big games, as the larger sample size allows the model to provide more accurate results.

We are just a few weeks into the season and the model has a shocking projection for week five.

It believes Auburn will beat Georgia this weekend.

According to the model, the Tigers are favored to win 30.7 to 30.6. The fact that it's even close to a 50/50 matchup is surprising.

Why is this the case? CFB Nerds explained in a tweet:

- Georgia is yet to allow 3.5 yards/carry in FBS play, but

- Every opponent set their FBS season high in rushing vs Georgia

So therefore, Georgia's opponents are *so* bad, that dominating them appears below-average defensively.

Auburn has had pretty solid success running the football this season, whether it be with their stable of running backs, or with QB Payton Thorne romping for over 120 yards against Samford.

Even though the model is drunk on Georgia's opponents having "success" in the running game (even though not only have they not averaged more than 3.5 yards per carry against the Bulldogs, none of them have eclipsed 29 rushing attempts, which wouldn't even be top 100 in FBS) could we see the Tigers' running game keep them close with Georgia this weekend?

It seems unlikely.

Auburn has yet to figure out their passing attack and the A&M game was proof. If Thorne, Robby Ashford, or even Holden Geriner can't throw the football underneath Philip Montgomery's play calling, should there be an expectation for the Tigers to have any success on the ground against a strong Georgia front?

We will see.

Auburn faces off against Georgia in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry this Saturday at 2:30 pm on CBS.

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PMARSHONAU Five thoughts on Auburn football

Phillip Marshall

5–6 minutes

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THORNE DESERVES RESPECT

Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne deserves better. He has been called “scared.” On social media, he has been called “nervous” and other uncomplimentary things as if someone can see inside his head. The strange need to take to social media for phony outrage directed at college football players is bad for the player, bad for the team, bad for everyone. That goes far beyond expressing an opinion about how someone played.  It’s not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons Bo Nix is lighting it up at Oregon now. His family, particularly his mother, was deeply hurt by that.

I don’t know if Thorne is Auburn’s answer. I don’t even know if he will start Saturday against Georgia. I know he works hard. I know he studies the game. I know he was respected enough by his teammates that they elected him a team captain though he had only been in town a few months. Mostly, I know he wants to succeed far more than anyone taking to social media to beat up on him wants him to succeed. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe had to deal with the same things the past two weeks.  It is, for the lack of a better word, ridiculous.

But it’s not just social media and not just in recent years. Brandon Cox once was booed in his own stadium, and he remembers it not-so-fondly to this day. Jason Campbell’s mother stopped attending games because of the vile things she heard said about her son. It is extremely counterproductive. No coach is going to change quarterbacks or make any other decisions because social media posters or anyone else believe he should.

Yes, I know I am old-fashioned. I know that’s the way it is in this day of social media. But it shouldn’t be that way.

WHAT COULD BE DIFFERENT SATURDAY

What will be different for Auburn on Saturday against Georgia? I don’t know, of course, but I have some thoughts.

Running backs are clearly Auburn’s most potent weapons on offense. The offensive line – like most – is better at run blocking than at pass blocking. I expect those running backs to get more opportunities than they did last Saturday at Texas A&M, when they averaged almost 8 yards per carry.

According to Auburn insiders, the video of Saturday’s game showed wide receivers running open throughout the game. Head coach Hugh Freeze said as much after the game. They just didn’t get the ball. I expect that to be a real focus this week in practice.

I won’t be surprised if there is a change at quarterback or if there is not.

ROBERTS GETTING IT DONE

Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts has made a believer out of me. Despite having what could have been a crippling run of injuries, his defense has showed up to play and has played well in every game. There might come a day when those injuries can’t be overcome and Auburn has a bad day on offense. But it hasn’t happened yet.

CEILING HASN’T CHANGED

I said before the season that I thought this Auburn team’s ceiling was 8-4, but that 7-5 would be a success for first-year head coach Hugh Freeze. I still believe that. I believe Auburn will beat Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and New Mexico State. That will be six wins. I believe Auburn will certainly have an even or better chance to beat Ole Miss at home. Winning at Arkansas is certainly possible. If Auburn loses one of those games, getting to eight will mean beating Georgia, LSU or Alabama. Is that likely to happen? Probably not. But it is certainly not impossible.

WILL THE LIGHT COME ON?

You never know when the light will come on for players and even for coaches. In 2013, Auburn won its first three games but looked nothing like a champion. It beat Washington State and Arkansas State and scored in the final 10 seconds to beat Mississippi State at home. Then it went to LSU, trailed 21-0 at halftime and lost 35-21. But the Auburn locker room was surprising. Players were upset, and they were angry. They were convinced they should have won. Auburn had dominated the second half, mostly behind zone reads run by quarterback Nick Marshall and running back Tre Mason.

During the off-week that followed head coach Gus Malzahn and his staff looked hard at what they were doing on offense. They decided featuring the zone read with Marshall and Mason, both dynamic runners, was the way to go. And the Tigers took off. They didn’t lose again until the BCS Championship Game.

Ironically, Auburn has an open date after Saturday’s game against Georgia. I don’t expect a repeat of 2013, but it is certainly plausible to believe that, by the end of the season, you will see a team that looks completely different than the one that lost to Texas A&M last Saturday.

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Auburn’s offense has a QB problem. But does this roster have an answer?

Published: Sep. 25, 2023, 6:00 a.m.

7–8 minutes

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Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne stood by himself. His arms were crossed, standing on the sideline behind Avery Jones. He stood there watching Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner warm up to go into the game after a first half and some change where Thorne had been sacked five times, overthrown multiple wide-open receivers and, as head coach Hugh Freeze suggested, consistently made poor decisions.

Thorne completed six of 12 passes for 44 yards. His longest completion was 13 yards. He was totally ineffective.

“We had people open,” Freeze said after Auburn’s 27-10 loss Saturday to Texas A&M at Kyle Field. “And we either missed them, or the pressure distracted us, it seemed. I’ve gotta watch the film and see exactly what was going on to cause that. But we certainly missed a few opportunities in the passing game.”

So Thorne stood by himself as he watched as Ashford and Geriner went into the game. This wasn’t the quarterback rotation Auburn has used throughout the season so far with Ashford coming in for specific packages or situations. Thorne had been benched.

Benching the starting quarterback in a job he never secured further opens the chance for a renewed quarterback battle that never seemed to end in the first place, based on Freeze’s comments in press conferences.

And Auburn doesn’t have a lot of better options.

“Offensively, we’re searching,” Freeze said. “And we’ve gotta find some answers.”

These words from Freeze stood out. They’re the words of a coach who appears to be questioning where to go from here. The answer isn’t obvious.

Quarterback play wasn’t the only reason why Auburn lost to Texas A&M. No matter what quarterback was playing, they didn’t get a lot of help.

Auburn’s completely reshaped offensive line played its worst game of the season. All five of Auburn’s offensive line starters were penalized during the game. They allowed seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss.

The wide receivers hardly found much separation to create passing windows as Auburn threw for a total of 56 yards in the game, completing nine of 26 passes. Ashford had 25 rushing yards on eight carries. He completed one of four passes for four yards. Geriner completed two of seven passes for eight yards.

In the second half, Auburn had four consecutive three-and-outs. Those four drives totaled -11 yards.

It didn’t matter who was playing quarterback. And it would be much easier to throw out the tape as bad, if not for the patterns of consistent issues throughout this season that Auburn was finally punished for in its first loss of the season.

Two weeks ago in the late hours of the night after a 14-10 win over Cal, Freeze sat down outside the team’s locker room and said something quite similar about Thorne.

“I didn’t think Payton was throwing it well, truthfully,” Freeze said that night. “You know? Now, the last drive, he did. He threw a great wheel route and a great fade ball. We’ve just got to get more consistent with that.”

Two days later back in Auburn Freeze again echoed the same point. He said Thorne had to play better. In both the Cal and Texas A&M games, Thorne completed fewer than 10 passes.

He bounced back against Samford, albeit that will likely the worst defense Auburn will face all season.

After the Texas A&M loss, Auburn has the worst passing offense in the SEC and the second-worst total offense in the conference, per NCAA stats. Thus far, Auburn’s passing offense has produced 693 passing yards combined from the quarterback trio. Nearly 300 of those yards came from Thorne in one game against Samford.

Thorne was successful in 2021 at Michigan State when he had an NFL running back to hand off to with Kenneth Walker III and a reliable offensive line. He had help. He hasn’t had that at Auburn.

He came to Auburn in the summer and only had fall camp to work his way into the team. It never came as much of a surprise he would be named the starter, but it was clear his quick adjustment might be a challenge.

“You’ve gotta remember, he wasn’t here in the spring,” offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said on Aug. 7. “Some of the things that he’s picked up on, we’ve gotta get everybody else around that to be on the same page with him.”

And from the moment he was named the starter, it was clear that wasn’t permanent. When announcing Thorne’s job, Freeze said the separation wasn’t Thorne’s play as much as it was his leadership.

“We can win games with any of the three,” Freeze said on Aug. 17. “And trust me, once someone gets that job they have to hold onto it. Hopefully the others work every day to press to make me feel like I need to second-guess that. That’s the hope.”

The next problem lies in exactly what to do going forward. The message sent to Thorne on Saturday was not one of much confidence in the quarterback.

For the inconsistencies and limitations Thorne has shown, he is still — by far — Auburn’s most experienced quarterback even though that experience hasn’t been in the SEC.

As Freeze said, Thorne had to continue to earn the job. He hasn’t done that.

But Auburn’s next game is No. 1 ranked Georgia, and this creates Auburn conundrum.

Start Thorne again and give him another chance? Go to Ashford, and use a run-heavy offense because he has never proven to be a reliable thrower nor has he had a consistent role in this offense? Be drastic and go to Geriner and give him his first career start against arguably the best defense in college football?

None of those options feel like a sure thing.

Or for Freeze’s long-term view of the program which centers on recruiting to fix the talent gap he knows Auburn has, does that answer still sit a year away with four-star quarterback commit Walker White?

On the surface, Auburn appears stuck. It would take one of the quarterbacks to take a big leap forward or a possible restructure of the offense to figure things out. With Auburn’s next three games coming against Georiga, LSU and Ole Miss, this isn’t the time or the opponents to figure things out.

The performance Auburn had against Texas A&M will likely mean losses in all three of those games.

As Freeze said, it’s time to keep searching.

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]

 

247sports.com

 

Jason Caldwells Monday morning quarterback column

Jason Caldwell

9–12 minutes

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Thoughts on Auburn football, around the SEC and Auburn hoops.

A little bit of everything

Anytime you play like Auburn’s offense did on Saturday, it’s going to be a combination of things that cause the issues. Much like Cal, the biggest culprit to me is still mistakes. The Tigers actually ran the ball pretty darn well with the running backs, but mistakes and missed plays kept them from breaking through. Those aren’t the kinds of things this team can get away with and still expect to win, especially on the road.

We’ve talked about two holding calls that killed drives and knocked Auburn out of at least field goal range, but there were also three throws that could have been made that could have made a big difference in the game. On the first possession, Var Johnson is crossing and could have picked up a first down, but Payton Thorne’s third down throw sailed over his head. There is no question that Jay Fair is at least picking up 30+ yards and could have scored on a perfectly timed call, but the throw was off the mark. On another, Thorne waited too late to hit Tyler Fromm down the seam and it was high as well.

This isn’t all on Thorne, however. The offense did a terrible job of picking up blitzes from the Texas A&M defense. That’s on the quarterback to recognize, but also the offensive line to protect along with the backs, and the wide receivers to recognize and give the quarterback a route to throw in a smaller window.

It still comes back to one thing however, this roster isn’t good enough to overcome those mistakes and win games against teams in the Southeastern Conference. We have seen it work on defense in the past, but cutting back the offense to allow for better execution may be the way to go with so many players still trying to figure out the ins and outs of the system.

Around college football

There is no question in my mind at the moment that the best college football in the country resides in the Pac-12. I’m not sure the national champion will come out of that league, but there’’s little doubt in my mind that it’s the deepest league in the country at the moment. Much of the reason for that is because of the play of the quarterbacks in the league, but guys like Dan Lanning at Oregon and Kalen DeBoer at Washington have added speed on defense to change their teams in a big way. If I’m making a Top 10 list of teams in the country at the moment, I would have Washington, USC, Oregon and Utah all in the group. That’s not something I would have ever said just a few years ago.

In the Southeastern Conference, I still see issues with every team in the league at the moment. Georgia is the most talented and most capable of winning when they don’t have their best stuff, but the Bulldogs aren’t the physically dominant group they have been in the past few years. Is it still good enough to run through this league? I think so. LSU is starting to look like the offense that can compete for a championship, but I’m still not sold on them defensively after Arkansas shredded them on Saturday night. Alabama is going to be a tough out because of the talent on the roster, but they’ll struggle to score against better defenses throughout the year as well. The sleeper could be Kentucky. They’re quietly 4-0 and have Florida at home this weekend before a trip to Georgia. Going to be interesting to see if they can knock off the Gators at home. If so, the Wildcats could be headed for another 9-win season.

Hoops there it is

On Tuesday we get the opportunity to meet with Bruce Pearl and several players as the Auburn men’s basketball team opens practices for the 2023-24 season. I was thinking about it as we were riding home from the Atlanta airport on Sunday, but even with 20 transfers on the Auburn football roster, it’s still many of the same names we have gotten used to seeing over the years. In basketball, adding just three or four guys is a huge overhaul when you only have 13 (or 12) scholarship players on a roster. 

That’s what we’ll see again from this team with true freshman point guard Aden Holloway just one of the newcomers that will likely play a key role for the Tigers along with shooting guard Denver Jones from FIU, small forward Chad Baker-Mazara from juco (San Diego State), forward Chaney Johnson from UAH and junior college forward Addarin Scott. That’s almost half of the scholarship roster made up of new players. How quickly can they get will be one of the most important questions for this team with one of the toughest preseason schedules I can remember for an Auburn team.

The Tigers play Baylor in South Dakota on November 7, Notre Dame in Brooklyn on November 16 with a potential matchup against Oklahoma State the next day. A home game against Virginia Tech on November 29 keeps it going before playing Indiana in Atlanta on December 9. UNC-Asheville comes to town on the 13th with USC on the 17th. Even games against Chattanooga and Penn to close out the pre-conference schedule on December 30 and January 2 will be a challenge. This team will definitely know where it stands heading into SEC play.

[SaltyTiger 8,579]

Thanx Fiddy. Another gorgeous East Alabama morning. Read enough about A&M and offensive struggles to choke a dozen horses, the “shoulda hired Deion” goofiness is just what is and expected.

Georgia week and a new day so let’s enjoy it.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

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