10. 22 23 Football Articles

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si.com

Takeaways: Auburn falls to No. 13 Ole Miss after hard fought first half

Lance Dawe

4–5 minutes

The Tigers had another poor offensive showing, this time against Ole Miss on Saturday night.

Without an offense, Auburn just simply isn't going to compete against level or better competition. Full stop.

Here are five takeaways from the 28-21 loss to the Rebels.

It's hard to believe Auburn's offense is this bad

Auburn's offense stooped to lows fans thought they could recover from this season. With a transfer quarterback that has over 6,500 passing yards in one of the best conferences in the nation, a retooled offensive line, and new transfers to aid Thorne, things were looking up this offseason.

The offensive staff found a way to somehow make it worse.

Auburn's opponents have just allowed the Tigers to hurt themselves over and over when there's an opportunity for something, anything. With the way Auburn runs their offense one would think that they're actively trying to be as bad as they are.

The passing game is the worst I have seen from a non-service academy program since I began watching football. There are few words to describe just how awful the Tigers are.

It can't be this hard.

The Tigers' front seven is lackluster

Over 200 yards rushing allowed and an extremely inconsistent pass rush. That's what Auburn's d-line did on Saturday.

The secondary is good, but it can't hold up with the way Auburn's front seven is performing.

Hugh Freeze and Philip Montgomery seem unserious about winning

Freeze talked about not needed extra motivation to get up for this game this weekend.

He, alongside his offensive coordinator, seem to not have any motivation at all.

This season is a wash. There were never any serious expectations for Auburn to compete against teams that are significantly better than them. But this? This is the product the Tigers put out onto the field?

The close loss to Georgia will end up being one of the high points of a season that has more off the field success than on it. Freeze is trying to build something, but with the way he and his offense make conservative decisions - like they did in this game - make it feel like they are unserious about giving this team a chance this year.

Turnovers didn't help

Ron Roberts got something right when he came into Auburn; he's gotten this defense to create turnovers. The Tigers had two on Saturday night and they didn't make them count.

If you don't have an offense that can do anything then it's going to be impossible for your defense to stay in the game.

There are easier games ahead

The positive takeaway is that Auburn's next few opponents are Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and New Mexico State. The Tigers have to show some signs of life against those teams.

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Instant Impressions Ole Miss 28 Auburn 21

Nathan King

6–8 minutes

---

Auburn's lack of offense may have reached critical mass Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Tigers managed just 10 first downs, and went three-and-out six times and was booed throughout the second half in a deflating performance against No. 13 Ole Miss. Auburn lost 28-21 and is now 0-4 in conference play to begin the Hugh Freeze era.

Here are Auburn Undercover's instant impressions, as Freeze's task of fixing Auburn's offensive issues continues to grow by the week.

COMPLETE FACEPLANT ON OFFENSE

Jarquez Hunter galloped for 53 yards in the first quarter to tie the game — marking the longest play of the season for the junior running back. 

From that point, though, Auburn turned in some of the worst offense it's played over the past few seasons.

For the next seven possessions after Hunter scored, Auburn totaled just 50 yards on 20 plays, with only one first down. That stretch included a whopping five three-and-outs.

Of course, Hunter scored a short touchdown to tie the game after Kaufman’s interception return. But Auburn was positively dreadful offensively in any sort of drive-the-field situation. 

On its third drive of the second half — with its best field position of the night at its own 49-yard line — Payton Thorne moved Auburn into field-goal range just inside the 40 with a first-down run. But Freeze and coordinator Philip Montgomery then dialed up a double pass to third-string quarterback Holden Geriner, who was split out at receiver. Geriner was slammed in the backfield for a 9-yard loss, pushing Auburn out of field goal range to attempt to take the lead late into the third quarter. 

Ole Miss then found some offense, as the dam started to crack, finally breaking through an inspired defensive performance for Auburn. 

Ole Miss got cranking as Dart totaled 53 yards to Tre Harris across consecutive completions, then a facemask on Auburn gets the Rebels in the red zone for the first time in six drives. Dart plunged into the end zone a play before the stat fourth quarter to put the Rebels up 21-14. Auburn punted again, and Ole Miss put the game away.

Thorne's 47-yard completion to Hunter on fourth-and-15 late in the fourth quarter brought up some of the Tigers' offensive numbers. Auburn had just 45 passing yards before that point.

After Hunter's tying touchdown in the second quarter and before a 48-yard drive in the fourth quarter ended with a Payton Thorne interception in the end zone, during that span of seven possessions, Auburn had 30 yards on 21 plays.

AUBURN DEFENSE DELIVERS — FOR AS LONG AS IT CAN

Early on, Auburn looked as if it may be in for another defensive bloodletting like last weekend, when it gave up 48 points at LSU. Ole Miss scored on its first two drives, converting a pair of fourth-and-1’s to do so — one of which was a 29-yard touchdown run by Rebels quarterback Jaxson Dart.

A healthier Tigers defense kept its footing, though, and settled into a strong finish to the first half. On Ole Miss’ third drive, Dart threw an interception that was returned all the way to the Rebels’ 24-yard line by Donovan Kaufman. Auburn scored four plays later to tie the game at 14-all.

The Rebels then went three-and-out, had a turnover on downs after a botched snap on a field-goal attempt — which Zion Puckett intercepted — then punted again before the half. Two sacks on three plays by Marcus Harris and Jalen McLeod kept the Rebels from snagging the lead right before halftime — and before Ole Miss got the ball back to begin the second half. 

Ole Miss ran for 144 yards in the first half, including 78 yards and 7.1 yards per carry by Quinshon Judkins, but the Tigers continued to create timely stops to keep the score knotted.

Auburn kept coming up with answers defensively, registering a turnover on downs on Ole Miss’ first possession of the second half. The Rebels originally punted and pinned Auburn at its 9-yard line, but Auburn was called for 12 men on the field. After a 5-yard penalty, Lane Kiffin decided to go for it on fourth-and-5, but Nehemiah Pritchett made a stop short of the sticks, and Auburn ended up at its own 35-yard line instead.

It felt almost inevitable that Auburn would eventually falter on defense. Much like the Cal game, the Tigers' consistent stops felt almost miraculous — only this time, things caved in down the stretch. 

Dart's connection with Harris continued on the Rebels' second straight scoring drive, with a 36-yard completion over the shoulder on the sideline. A late hit penalty on Eugene Asante set up a short first-and-goal, and Judkins put the game on ice with a short touchdown. 

AUBURN’S QB SHUFFLE CONTINUES 

For the first time this season, Robby Ashford started at quarterback for Auburn. But it was short lived.

Freeze continued to shuffle his two quarterbacks, as he’s done for most of the Tigers’ four SEC games. Payton Thorne checked in on Auburn’s second drive of the game, as the two shared duties throughout the game.

Neither was particularly effective, which has also been the case for most of Auburn’s SEC competition. Thorne’s arm wasn’t used much earlly, completing just one pass before, while Ashford hit his first three passes of the game for 22 yards before launching a deep ball into double coverage for an interception 61 seconds before halftime. 

In the second half, Freeze clearly went with Ashford, and Auburn ran more heavy personnel and dual-back sets to support his running ability. It was to little avail, though, as Auburn continued to come up with no answers offensively.

Thorne was given drive No. 3 of the second half and was able to pick up just Auburn’s fifth first down of the game with his legs.

Boos began raining onto the field late in the third quarter, and they continued when Auburn went three-and-out once again to begin the fourth quarter — after a sequence in which the Tigers had a third-and-1, but broke the huddle with 12 players and were penalized.

Auburn didn't even attempt a pass on 11 plays in the third quarter, including three third downs that needed 6 or more yards.

Thorne seemed to be Auburn's go-to quarterback down the stretch, as Freeze searched for some quick, late offense. But as Auburn had its second-best drive of the game, yards-wise, as the fourth quarter dwindled down, before Thorne threw an interception in the end zone.

Auburn's final drive helped Thorne's cause a bit, as he found Hunter for 47 yards, then threw a short touchdown to tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.

Thorne finished 9-of-13 for 100 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Ashford was 3-of-4 for 22 yards. 

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Instant Analysis: Ole Miss edges Auburn with strong 2nd half effort

Taylor Jones

~4 minutes

The Auburn Tigers entered Saturday’s game with No. 12 Ole Miss in search of their first SEC win. For a half, it appeared to be in sight.

However, the goal was short-lived as Ole Miss pulled away from the Tigers in the second half to earn a 28-21 win on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.

Auburn (3-4, 0-4 SEC) tied the game at 14-14 early in the 2nd quarter, which remained the score until halftime. Ole Miss (6-1, 3-1 SEC) went on to outscore the Tigers, 14-7 in the second half to pull out the win.

Although Ole Miss won the game by two scores, they dominated the yards game. The Rebels outgained the Tigers, 425-275 and recorded 18 more offensive plays. The largest discrepancy was in the passing game, as Ole Miss passed for 202 yards while holding Auburn to 102 yards.

Robby Ashford started the game for the Tigers at quarterback and was trusted to run the entire first drive. He completed two pass attempts for 16 yards and rushed for 11 yards. However, he was halted on a fourth down play at midfield to end the initial drive.

The Rebels first drive saw them commit four penalties. However, it affected them minimally as they were able to score. Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart connected with Zakhari Franklin from 11 yards away to put his squad ahead, 7-0 with 4:55 remaining in the opening quarter.

Ole Miss’ lead was short-lived, as Jarquez Hunter sprinted 53-yards on the fifth play of Auburn’s next drive to tie the game. Payton Thorne did not attempt a pass on his first drive, but managed to rush for 13 yards.

Dart responded on the next drive by rushing 29 yards to push Ole Miss back in front, 14-7 to end the first quarter. The score came on a 4th down and 1 play, and Dart rushed up the middle to score.

The lone score of the 2nd quarter belonged to Auburn. With 11:41 remaining in the first half, Hunter scored his second touchdown of the night out of the wildcat formation to tie the game at 14-14. Hunter ended the first half with 63 yards on nine carries.

It took a while for either team to find pay dirt in the 3rd quarter, but Ole Miss was able to retake the lead as the quarter expired. Dart scored his third touchdown, his second on the ground, to cap a eight-play, 90-yard drive. The Rebels gained 118 yards of total offense in the 3rd quarter while Auburn managed to gain just 14.

The nail in the coffin was driven in with 7:51 remaining in the 4th quarter. Running back Quinshon Judkins scored his first touchdown of the game by rushing four yards to extend the Rebels’ lead to 28-14.

Auburn was able to put one more score on the board with 0:56 to go in the contest. Tight end Rivaldo Fairweather caught the first receiving touchdown of the game to cut the lead to 28-21. Auburn’s onside kick attempt failed, thus ending the game.

Auburn passed for just 122 yards in the game, with Thorne leading the way with 100 yards. Hunter was the team’s leading receiver and rusher. He recorded 54 yards through the air while rushing for 91 yards.

Defensively, Auburn recorded eight tackles for loss. Marcus Harris led the way with two tackles behind the line of scrimmage, and finished with seven total stops. Larry Nixon led the team with eight total tackles.

Auburn returns to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday to face Mississippi State at 2:30 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs pulled off a defensive win on Saturday, knocking off Arkansas, 10-7.

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Auburn’s Hugh Freeze initially goes with different starting quarterback vs. No. 13 Ole Miss

Updated: Oct. 21, 2023, 6:36 p.m.|Published: Oct. 21, 2023, 6:20 p.m.

~2 minutes

Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne jogged out onto Pat Dye Field for the pregame coin toss, as he does every week as one of the Tigers’ four team captains.

However, after Auburn received the opening kickoff, which landed in the Tigers’ own endzone for a touchback, it was sophomore quarterback Robby Ashford who trotted out onto the field for Auburn’s first offensive snap.

Saturday night was Ashford’s first start since last season, when he won over the job midway through the 2022 season.

Ashford finished last season with just more than 1,600 passing yards, seven touchdowns and seven interceptions. However, since bringing junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne to The Plains in the offseason, it’s been Thorne’s offense to run.

Thorne won the starting job back on Aug. 17 after a three-man battle between himself, Ashford and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner.

But as Auburn’s offense has played too many games in which it appeared stuck in the mud with its tires spinning, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze decided to make a change Saturday night against the 13th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels.

However, come Auburn’s second drive of the night, it was Thorne who was brought back onto the field against the Rebels, indicating that Freeze might keep his two-quarterback rotation rolling against Ole Miss Saturday night.

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While Auburn fans held up their end of the bargain vs. Ole Miss, the team they cheer for didn't

Updated: Oct. 22, 2023, 2:06 a.m.|Published: Oct. 21, 2023, 11:25 p.m.

5–6 minutes

The energy in the quaint college town that is Auburn began to shift Friday morning.

If you needed to go downtown for any reason on Friday, you’d need to grant yourself some extra time as parking was an absolute nightmare.

Come Friday night? Forget about it.

Live music played outside of Toomer’s Drug Store, fans filed into the iconic Johnston and Malone Book Store to pick up last-minute Auburn gear and families posed for pictures and picnicked in the front lawn of Samford Hall.

The Plains were buzzing as members of the Auburn Family came from far and wide to be a part of the first true night game of the season at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

And that energy bled into Saturday night’s game – just as Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin knew it would.

“I just think that place – having played it here and having played it at Alabama – just sometimes has some magical things happen in it,” Kiffin said of Jordan-Hare Stadium on Monday.

And though Auburn fell to No. 13 Ole Miss 28-21 Saturday night, giving the Tigers their fourth-consecutive loss of the season, that magic Kiffin reference was still present Saturday night.

The magic of Jordan-Hare Stadium jabbed at the Rebels quick and came in the shape of a pair of false start penalties that were whistled against the Ole Miss offense in its first drive of the game.

The voodoo of Auburn’s homefield struck again in the middle of the second quarter as Ole Miss lined up for a 27-yard field goal. But Ole Miss kicker Caden Davis would never get the chip shot off the ground as his holder, Charlie Pollack, fumbled the snap. Pollack went on to throw the ball, which was intercepted by Zion Puckett.

To add to the madness, Ole Miss’ final punt of the first half traveled all of 12 yards.

“It happens in this stadium,” Kiffin said in a halftime interview with ESPN. “Weird things happen. We screw up the field goal, bad punt, but, you know, to be tied at half, and we played a really ugly half, and weathered their storm.”

The 13th-ranked team in the country brought its own platter to Auburn Saturday, polished it up, plopped a win in the center of it and extended it out to Auburn.

All Hugh Freeze and the Tigers had to do was grab it.

Instead, after Ole Miss committed its second false start during its first offensive drive, followed by a holding penalty to give the Rebels a 3rd-and-22 situation, the Auburn offense allowed Quinshon Judkins to rip off a 21-yard rush.

On 4th-and-1 on the plus side of the field, the Kiffin decided to gamble early and keep his offense on the field. It paid off as Judkins took off for another 17-yard gain. The Rebels would go on to score with an 11-yard passing touchdown from Jaxson Dart to Zakhari Franklin.

“We continue to lose the battles on third and fourth down and that’s disappointing,” Freeze said following the game.

Then came the botched field goal, which kept the score in a 14-14 stalemate.

Instead of using the momentum -- with Robby Ashford under center -- the Auburn offense spit and sputtered before going three-and-out for the third time in less than two quarters. The Tigers finished the night with six three-and-out drives.

Even then, Auburn still had Ole Miss’ shanked punt to try and take advantage of.

After Ole Miss punter Fraser Masin sent a punt just 12 yards down the field, Auburn’s offense was primed with great field position, taking over possession just outside midfield at its own 45-yard line.

The Tigers were gifted an opportunity to take some sort of lead – whether it be three points or seven points – into halftime.

The ensuing play, however, featured an interception thrown by Robby Ashford, who targeted a double-covered Ja’Varrius Johnson in the Ole Miss endzone.

By the second half of play, the Rebels had somewhat settled into the uncomfortable environment that is Jordan-Hare Stadium. And as such, Auburn missed the boat on using its homefield’s magic to its advantage.

But boy, if the boat wasn’t waiting patiently in the harbor.

“I was excited about this chance,” said Hugh Freeze, who mentioned several times in the days leading up to Saturday’s game that he was looking forward to his first true night game at under the lights of Jordan-Hare. “What a crowd we had.”

And here’s the thing, it’ll take a lot – A LOT – for Auburn fans not to show up in the masses on any given Saturday, but especially a Saturday night under the lights.

However, as indicated by the boos that rained down on Pat Dye Field in the third quarter, the Auburn fanbase’s patience is thinning, and it’s thinning at an alarming rate.

“It was an incredible night and really felt like we would be in this game for the entirety,” Freeze said. “And it’s just we couldn’t and we had our chances.”

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al.com

The Hugh Freeze honeymoon at Auburn is over

Updated: Oct. 22, 2023, 12:07 a.m.|Published: Oct. 21, 2023, 11:02 p.m.

6–7 minutes

Before the stadium had begun to empty, with the result of the game still in the air, Auburn lined up quarterback Holden Geriner for his first meaningful snap of any kind this season and tucked him behind tight end Brandon Frazier. There were just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and the score still tied at 14. The plan was a double pass, with the ball tossed backward to Geriner and he would find an open receiver deep downfield.

Except he only had one blocker, who was shoved out of the way immediately and Geriner was sacked on the trick play.

It set up third-and-19 still on the Ole Miss half of the field. Auburn ran up the middle with Jarquez Hunter and gained four yards. Punter Oscar Chapman ran on the field.

And it was in this moment that all the optimism that has characterized Auburn’s season thus far drowned into boos. The hope of Auburn fans had been exhausted. It appeared as a rock bottom.

It was the first time Auburn’s inept offense had been booed this season.

In that moment, the Hugh Freeze honeymoon ended. The opponent, his former employer, made it all that more fitting.

Auburn had chances to win what ended as a 28-21 loss to No. 13 Ole Miss. The defense played a heroic effort against a far superior Ole Miss offense — keeping Ole Miss without points for the entire second quarter and for every second until the very last one of the third quarter.

During that time, Auburn’s offense had eight drives. Five of them ended in three-and-outs. Six ended in punts. One drive was just a singular play where quarterback Robby Ashford threw an interception. And the remaining drive was a four-play, 24-yard touchdown drive set up by a 43-yard Donovan Kaufman interception return.

After the ice had been thawed on the boos for the first time, they continued for every short gain — every inability to move the ball — for the rest of the game.

And for as loud as the boos were raining down on them — loud enough to be clearly heard in an Auburn press box known for blocking out noise — players said they didn’t notice the anger.

“I didn’t realize that,” tight end Rivaldo Fairweather said of the boos. “We’ve just got to go out there, execute and be great as an offense. And we will. We’re going to go back to the drawing table like I said and come back better.”

As officials reviewed and upheld a Thorne interception in the endzone, thousands of fans didn’t bother to wait for the call. They turned out of their seats and walked to the exit. Auburn’s student section is reliable to remain in their bleachers to the very end of the game, win or lose. But with two minutes to go, the result certainly in hand, rows and rows of silver bleachers were empty as the students made their way back toward the bars.

There were no boos when the game ended. At that point, the stadium was largely empty. Any boos would have been drowned out by the cheering Ole Miss fans in the northeast corner, anyway.

Yet when the game ended and Hugh Freeze made his way over to his press conference, his remarks on this team were much of the same as what he’s said after each of Auburn’s growing number of bad offensive performances.

He took the blame on himself again. He said he thought both quarterbacks had a good package again. He questioned his game plan again. He said the margin between Auburn winning and losing is so small again.

Asked why the mistakes repeating mistakes, Freeze’s answer was short, but indicative of the issues.

“I can’t answer the exact why,” Freeze said. “A combination.”

Before tonight, optimism was abound for a new coach with SEC experience — despite a checkered history. There was hope for the immediate recruiting success in the 2024 class — wins that remain on the register. There was hope because Freeze had won in the SEC before.

Hope isn’t eternal.

On this night, instead of granting Freeze with the patience that had been present, the fans met him with boos.

Boos are hard to come back from. Public opinion is fickle. It can turn sour in a moment and it isn’t easy to turn back.

That mood is bad right now. There is frustration from the fan base. Auburn’s offense is on pace to be historically bad.

Auburn has barely averaged more than 100 passing yards against SEC opponents. It’s the worst rate for Auburn this century.

And for all Hugh Freeze has talked about the talent gap Auburn has and the recruiting that still lies in the future, these repetitive failures of offense come down to coaching. Auburn made the same mistakes of alignment, protection, route running and simply poor quarterback play after a bye week where it planned to fix it.

The talent gap doesn’t cause Auburn to have 12 men in the huddle for a third down in the fourth quarter. Auburn was penalized twice for illegal substitutions. That’s coaching. And the fans noticed it.

Auburn’s passing offense was already ranked among the 10 worst in the nation before another bad day Saturday. Auburn had 122 total passing yards but 47 of them came on a dump-off pass to running back Jarquez Hunter later in the fourth quarter.

The fans made their voice heard, and it poses the question of what to do next with offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery.

These are the types of games a coach gets fired for. Montgomery’s contract, which has a total value of $3.45 million, has a 100% buyout.

Yet he is in a position that will be hard to recover. He works from the coaches’ box, nestled in the midst of all the boos.

Many of them were directed at him, too.

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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[SaltyTiger 8,579]

Good morning Fiddy and have a great day. Think I will go bream fishing today and forget last night.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

3 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Good morning Fiddy and have a great day. Think I will go bream fishing today and forget last night.

well if you do not fish better than we coached last night you might end up with some sewer bass...................lol. have fun.i am gummied right now and just listening to the new stones cd on youtube.

[SaltyTiger 8,579]

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

well if you do not fish better than we coached last night you might end up with some sewer bass...................lol. have fun.i am gummied right now and just listening to the new stones cd on youtube.

Can fish better than last nights offense and coaching casting onto dry land.

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What Hugh Freeze and Auburn’s players said after losing to Ole Miss

JD McCarthy

Sun, October 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM CDT·7 min read

0

Auburn fans are growing frustrated with the two-quarterback system but it doesn’t sound like Hugh Freeze has any plans to stick with one quarterback moving forward.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome of the game,” he said after the game. “I think both had a really good package and both worked at times. It would be nice to have one for sure but we’re searching to see what the best avenue is for us to go and win. I still think that Robby (Ashford) should have a package. I felt good about both of these packages tonight. I think they both worked at times, but it was when you get into the third down area that we didn’t convert.”

Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford both played extensively in Auburn’s 28-21 loss to Ole Miss Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium but neither one was able to effectively move the ball.

Thorne finished the game 9-of-13 passing for 100 yards and one touchdown and rushed 11 times for 34 yards. Ashford went 3-of-4 for 22 yards and added 27 yards on eight carries. Each quarterback also threw an interception into double coverage that ended a scoring opportunity.

Here is everything Freeze and Auburn’s players had to say about Auburn’s fourth straight loss of the season.

Hugh Freeze

Opening statement…

“Yeah, I’m disappointed. I think our kids played hard. I feel like that we’ve got to coach them better and it starts with me. Regardless of whether you may be the most talented team on a certain night, you certainly can be well coached in critical areas and critical downs. The margin for us between winning and losing right now is so small that we can’t mess those up. Obviously, I’ve got to do a better job too, to make sure we don’t make those mistakes in those areas. I don’t know if it makes a difference in the game, it sure feels like it. And we got to convert those critical downs. We continue to lose the battles on third and fourth down, and that’s disappointing. Whether it’s one guy or a play call, it’s really disappointing. I felt like we had really good work this week and was excited about this chance for the great crowd we had. It was an incredible night, and I really felt like we would be in this game for the entirety of it. We had our chances. The defense got some stops against a very explosive offensive. Offensively, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot it felt like. And they made some plays too, but some of it was of our own doing.”

On his mindset behind still using the two-quarterback system…

“I don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome of the game. I think both had a really good package and both worked at times. It would be nice to have one for sure but we’re searching to see what the best avenue is for us to go and win. I still think that Robby (Ashford) should have a package. I felt good about both of these packages tonight. I think they both worked at times, but it was when you get into the third down area that we didn’t convert.”

TE Rivaldo Fairweather

On the tough stretch of the schedule and the importance of winning… 

“It’s very, very important and we’ve got to win out the rest of these games. We’re going to go back to practice and come up with a great plan to go out beat the next team we have. We just have to have a next-game mentality. This game, the offense kind of struggled, but the defense played amazing. I promised my defense we’ll find a way to execute out there as an offense.”

On having six three-and-outs… 

“We just have to execute and have to come up with a better pass game. We need to go out there and make plays for our quarterbacks. Just have to execute.”

MLB Larry Nixon III

On what was working…

“We were slowing them (Ole Miss) down, stopping their runs and not letting them complete their passes. Slowing them down is what really led us to being successful during this game. We just finished as a team, as we should have.”

On having Keionte Scott and Austin Keys back…

“Keionte is an explosive player, as well as Austin. Having them back is good for me because he and I split reps. I get a little breather out there, too. I can run around out there more and be 100 percent myself and he can be 100 percent himself. I’m really proud of the guys coming back and playing as good as they did today.”

OL Gunner Britton

On what the mentality is to finish the rest of the season strong … 

“Look towards the next game, it’s really tough. We have played four ranked teams back-to-back-to-back. That’s a tough stretch for any team, but Freeze said in the pregame speech that is what you do when you play in the SEC. Even for me when I came here, I knew the teams I was going to be playing, so you just have to look towards next week and there is nothing you can really do to change the game. You just have to go and watch the film, learn the film and move on from there.”

On what is one thing that might be missing offensively that is not clicking right now … 

“Honestly, I really could not tell you right now. My job right now is to play left guard for this team and that is what I can do for this team. We can look at the film and it’s easy to hold the remote and say we can do this or this, but it is a little bit different when you are on the field. For me, we just have to go back to the drawing board and just try to figure out something that will work.”

DT Marcus Harris

On running out of gas at the end of the third quarter…

“I feel like we have to look at our mistakes and fix those. We also need to communicate to be more efficient for the fourth quarter and then we’ll be good.”

On having Keionte Scott and Austin Keys back out there tonight…

“Those guys bring so much energy and hope to the defense. We love when both of those guys are in the game. I was especially happy to see (Austin) Keys play in this game.”

CB Keionte Scott

On being back on the field tonight…

“It was just a blessing. We put in a lot of hard work and the staff did a great job of creating a plan and trusting it. Being able to be with the boys and practice with the team again after just watching, was a blessing.”

On being able to be a part of many snaps and involved during the game…

“I had (the) LSU (game) circled and wasn’t able to get that accomplished, so this game was for sure. I hold myself accountable to contribute to this defense. While being back out there, I really didn’t want to come off the field. But getting back into it, I had to come off for a couple of plays. I feel like I did a good job.”

RB Jaquez Hunter

On getting things off the ground at the start…

“There are just small things we need to work on as a group. If we just get those things together, I think those three-and-outs would have been made into first downs so we would’ve had positive yards.”

On the team’s confidence to finish out this season strong… 

“I think we have a lot of confidence. I also think we went out there and played good today. Like I said, it’s just the small things that we need to work on. For defense and offense, we have to go out there and execute. If we do those things, I think the rest of the season is going to be good.”

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire