9.1.24 football articles

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al.com

 

Auburn report card: Grading Auburn's dominant win against Alabama A&M

Published: Sep. 01, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

4–5 minutes

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Auburn puts on a show against Alabama A&M

By

• Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.com

Auburn did what it was supposed to do against Alabama A&M.

It scored a lot points, played a lot of players and made exciting plays. What more can you ask from a season opener?

The Tigers were sound in every phase of the game en route to a 73-3 win. Here’s the AL.com report card for Auburn’s season-opening win.

Offense

Grade: A+

It’s hard not to give the offense an A+ when after a 70-point win.

The offense was responsible for 66 of those points and never looked challenged.

Payton Thorne had statistically the best game of his Auburn career, throwing for 322 yards and four touchdowns while adding another 49 yards and a score on the ground. Auburn took shots with its talented receivers early and often and did so with consistent success.

Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Malcolm Simmons and Sam Jackson V all had touchdown catches of 35 or more yards.

Auburn also rushed for 177 yards as a team, averaging 9.8 yards per rush.

It was far from the best competition, but 73 points and 628 yards of total offense is a lot no matter who you’re facing. With that in mind, the offense earns a perfect score.

Defense:

Grade: B+

In a vacuum, B+ seems a bit harsh for a unit that only gave up three points, but context matters.

Against better opposition, some of the defense’s mistakes would likely result in more points. The secondary gave up a few big plays, none bigger than a 56-yard reception off an Auburn deflection.

Head Coach Hugh Freeze called Auburn’s defensive performance “okay,” which is fair with all things considered. Alabama A&M was able to move the ball at times, stalling in the redzone on multiple occasions.

While it’s fair to point to the Bulldogs’ poor redzone efficiency, it’s also fair to credit Auburn’s redzone defense. Jalen McLeod made a big third down sack just a few plays after the 56-yard reception, that forced Alabama A&M to attempt a field goal that it ended up missing.

Auburn held Alabama A&M to 38 rushing yards while giving up 204 yards through the air. A lot of players got to play, which is never a bad thing early in the season.

The performance was far from poor, but there are still things to clean up going into Week 2.

Special Teams

Grade: A+

It’s hard to find many flaws in Auburn’s special teams performance on Saturday.

The big special teams storyline coming into the game was the debut of freshman kicker Towns McGough starting in the place of Alex McPherson.

McGough looked like a seasoned pro in his debut, making his lone field goal attempt, making all of his extra points and consistently kicking the ball into the endzone on kickoffs.

The other aspects of were solid too. Auburn nearly scored two special teams touchdowns, one on a blocked punt and the other on a Keionte Scott punt return that was brought back after a review showed him stepping out of bounds.

The only real bad moment for Auburn’s special teams came on a 37-yard kick return by Alabama A&M, but the unit played an otherwise perfect game.

Coaching

Grade: A-

There weren’t any big coaching decisions to be made in this game and the staff didn’t make any noticeably bad calls.

Freeze commented after the game that the defense was misaligned too many times, so that’s the only thing that keeps the grade from being higher.

Overall, the staff did its job and now has a live game to build off going into the rest of the season.

Overall

Grade: A

Auburn got the job done Saturday night, and that’s what matters.

It’s hard to make a statement when playing against a heavily overmatched opponent, but the Tigers got everything out of its season opener that it could’ve. They scored a lot of points, got a lot of players reps and most importantly, left the game healthy.

There were things to build on and things to be fixed, but overall, Auburn played well and it’s hard to not give a team an A for its performance when it wins by 70 points.

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al.com

3 takeaways from Auburn's season opening blowout win over Alabama A&M

Updated: Aug. 31, 2024, 10:42 p.m.|Published: Aug. 31, 2024, 9:46 p.m.

4–5 minutes

Hugh Freeze addresses the media following Auburn's season-opening 73-3 win over Alabama A&M

By

Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.com

Auburn started the 2024 season with a blowout win Saturday night, beating Alabama A&M 73-3 to kick off Year 2 of the Hugh Freeze era.

It was clear from the beginning that Auburn had a substantial athleticism advantage over Alabama A&M, so it would be unwise to try and read too much into what Saturday’s result means for the Tigers.

But season openers are also an opportunity to get a feel for how a team wants to play and who some of the key players are.

With that said, here are our three takeaways:

Auburn was unafraid to air it out and for good reason

Payton Thorne had statistically the best game of his Auburn career on Saturday.

He threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns, all while only playing in the first half. It marked the first time since 2018 that an Auburn quarterback threw for four touchdowns in a game.

How did it happen? Auburn’s talented new receivers showed why they garnered so much attention during the offseason.

Malcolm Simmons caught the first pass of the game out of the slot, but Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith was the first two bring fans out of their seats.

On the first play of Auburn’s second possession, he and Thorne connected for a 67-yard touchdown on a throw over the middle. Lambert-Smith beat his man with ease, a sight Auburn didn’t often see from its receivers in 2023.

Highly touted freshmen Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson each added long touchdowns of their own, as Auburn repeatedly looked to stretch the field during the first half.

It’s worth noting the competition when talking about the passing numbers, but if nothing else, Auburn showed an increased desire to throw the ball downfield and its playmakers shined as a result.

Only knock on the offense was some late ball security issues. The Tigers lost two fumbles in the fourth quarter, preventing it from making the blowout any worse.

Auburn may have found its starting left tackle

Towards the end of fall camp, questions emerged surrounding what the left side of Auburn’s offensive line would look like.

Redshirt freshman Tyler Johnson got the start at left tackle on Saturday and helped keep Thorne clean throughout the night.

Johnson, who began fall camp with a minor hamstring injury, emerged as a potential starter towards the end of preseason practice.

Freeze said leading up to the game there would likely be a rotation with Johnson, Dillon Wade and Mississippi State transfer Percy Lewis.

Johnson saw most of the action in the first half with Wade starting at left guard. Freeze said that it could take a few games to find a permanent solution to the left side of the offensive line, but Saturday might’ve been a step towards answering that question.

The front seven is deep

Freeze said throughout fall camp that there would be rotation along the defensive line, and that was the case on Saturday.

There still doesn’t seem to be a set first group along the interior defensive line, and given the depth, there may not ever be. With the constant rotation, though, there was never a considerable drop off from group to group.

The defense held Alabama A&M to 38 rushing yards and had 11 tackles for loss.

At linebacker, Eugene Asante was the mainstay of the group, but Austin Keys, Dorian Mausi Jr. and Robert Woodyard Jr. all made an impact in the first half.

The most notable contributions along the front seven, though, came from true freshmen Malik Blocton and Amaris Williams. Both saw playing time in the first half and constantly rotated with the first group. In the third quarter, the pair combined for a sack.

Regardless of opponents, having depth up front will only benefit Auburn this season. With the game out of reach early, it wasn’t a big deal on Saturday, but that will change when it’s time for four quarters of physicality in SEC play.

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Sports

The 5-star whiz kids preview bright futures for Alabama, Auburn passing games

Published: Sep. 01, 2024, 4:57 p.m.

Alabama 5-star freshman Ryan Williams explodes for 2 TDs, 138 Yds in his first game

By

Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com

The burden of expectation can be heavy.

Pair that with Alabama and Auburn playing dramatically overmatched Week 1 teams and the most interesting aspect of the glorified preseason games became the star in-state freshmen.

For Alabama, it’s 17-year-old prodigy Ryan Williams and the Auburn 5-star he nearly leapfrogged in the recruiting rankings when making the gutsy move to reclassify and enroll in college a year early.

Cam Coleman and Williams will be forever linked as their respective school’s vision of the future.

And neither did anything to dull the buzz Saturday.

The wrapper came off both under the lights Saturday night, and neither did anything to tamp down expectations. In fact, Auburn had three freshman receivers haul in long touchdowns in the Tigers’ 73-3 dismissal of Alabama A&M. Perry Thompson and Malcolm Simmons—also in-state guys from Foley and Alexander City, respectively—offered hope that Round 2 for Hugh Freeze includes legitimate offensive weapons.

Still, the two lead dogs earned top billing.

Williams of Saraland had explosive touchdowns on both balls he caught in a 63-0 embarrassment of Western Kentucky. His first saw Alabama isolate a Hilltopper cornerback on the teen whose athleticism was clearly undervalued.

Williams could have fair caught and walked the 84-yard scoring sling from Jalen Milroe in his Welcome to College moment.

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His second came on a more intermediate route across the middle -- territory that will be a spot for the 6-foot, 175-pound rookie to find comfort before playing the heavyweights. Well, WKU offered little resistance or preparation as Williams caught the crossing route and split two slapstick tacklers for the 55-yard score.

Two catches, 139 yards, two touchdowns is about as efficient as it gets for the No. 3 receiver in last year’s class, according to 247Sports.

“He’s got that big-play capability,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “He’s done a lot of that in practice. I was excited to see him get out there, and a big third-down by the sideline, a great read by Jalen (Milroe) with the coverage he was getting. We anticipated a possible route down the sideline in a situation like that, and it was really cool to see those guys execute and Ryan just hauling the ball and finish.

“And coming across the middle on the second touchdown, he was just really focused, and it just doesn’t seem like the game’s too fast for him.”

RELATED: Alabama’s the same bully on the block

Last year’s No. 2 prospect had a similar night in Auburn.

Coleman is a different kind of receiver at 6-foot-3, 197 pounds from Phenix City. Still, his debut catch was similar to Williams’ up in Tuscaloosa.

Paired with a cornerback on an island just over three minutes into the game, Coleman gave the poor guy a stutter-step move and took off. The stop-and-go was an ankle breaker from the nightmares of a defensive back. It was a pitch and catch from there, 44 yards on his first touch that terminated with an end zone party.

Thompson got his 70-yard touchdown in the second quarter running across the middle and breezing the final 35 yards after the catch for a 38-0 lead. The mismatch was almost unfair. Thompson, once an Alabama commit, had the leverage to almost walk into the end zone.

Unlike Coleman, Thompson wasn’t an early enrollee so the No. 8 receiver in the class had some catching up to do this August. He finished with two catches for 82 yards while Coleman netted 62 on his two.

And finally, Simmons (the No. 29 WR in the class) finished with team highs in receptions (3) and yards (91) with a 57-yard touchdown catch that, you guessed it, schooled an isolated corner.

Adding to the style points: a blocked punt he recovered for a special teams touchdown earlier in the third quarter.

“It was really satisfying,” Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said when asked about his freshman receivers after the game. “They’re just young kids, man. And they’re just enjoying playing and going through the experience.”

Of course, these performances will ultimately be footnotes in what figure to be long careers. They won’t have the luxury of toying with SEC cornerbacks like they victimized those from Western Kentucky and Alabama A&M.

So they checked the boxes.

But that’s just Step 1 in carrying the burden of expectation that comes with being hotshot local recruits for offenses in search of icons.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.

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al.com

 

Who does Auburn football play next and what to know

Published: Sep. 01, 2024, 2:00 p.m.

~3 minutes

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Hugh Freeze addresses the media following Auburn's season-opening 73-3 win over Alabama A&M

Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers couldn’t have asked for a better way to open their season after Saturday’s very, very lopsided win over the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.

After jutting out to a quick, seven-touchdown lead by halftime, the Tigers, Bulldogs and game officials all agreed to shorten the second half down to two, 10-minute quarters.

Despite the shortened game, Auburn’s domination continued as the Tigers topped the Bulldogs 73-3 to collect the program’s 800th win in convincing fashion.

Payton Thorne became the first Auburn quarterback since Cam Newton to throw for three touchdowns in a single quarter, while three of Auburn’s four freshman wide receivers all scored the first touchdowns of their career.

Meanwhile, the Auburn defense held Alabama A&M to less than 40 rushing yards and kept the Bulldogs from finding the endzone.

What’s next for Auburn?

Freeze and the Tigers will return home to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the second game of their five-game homestand on Saturday and play host to the Cal Golden Bears — a recent addition to the ACC — for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.

Cal’s visit to Auburn is the Golden Bears returning the favor to Auburn after the Tigers traveled out to Berkeley, California last September.

Auburn went on to secure the win in last year’s weird and late-night contest in the fourth quarter as the Tigers pulled away late for a 14-10 win over the Golden Bears thanks to a touchdown connection between quarterback Payton Thorne and tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.

Cal opened its season with a 31-13 win in a west-coast matchup against UC-Davis, though Cal struggled to separate itself from UC-Davis until the second half.

Jaydn Ott, Cal’s starting running back who had rushed for 49 yards and a pair of touchdowns against UC-Davis, left the game late in the third quarter with an apparent injury.

In his post game press conference, Cal head coach Justin Wilcox had no updates on Ott’s injury.

Last year, Ott rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown against Auburn.

TV, radio, broadcast info

Auburn’s matchup with Cal will be televised on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m. The radio broadcast will be featured on the Auburn Sports Network.

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al.com

Tyler Johnson earns start for Auburn at left tackle, but rotation continues

Published: Sep. 01, 2024, 7:30 a.m.

2–3 minutes

Hugh Freeze addresses the media following Auburn's season-opening 73-3 win over Alabama A&M

By

Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.com

The left side of Auburn’s offensive line began to raise questions towards the end of fall camp, but Saturday’s season opener against Alabama A&M might’ve provided some answers.

Hugh Freeze said leading up to the game that a rotation of Dillon Wade, Tyler Johnson and Percy Lewis was likely on the left side of the line, despite Lewis seeming to have a hold on the starting left tackle spot at the start of camp.

Wade was always a projected starter, but the initial plan was to play him at guard. Johnson emerged in the second half of camp, and he was the one who took the first snap at left tackle.

It was the first start of his career, and despite facing overmatched competition, he looked comfortable in the role.

Lewis still rotated in at tackle, with Wade mostly playing guard, but it was telling that the redshirt freshman was able to work his way into a starting spot.

Freeze said in the lead up to the game that it could take a few weeks to completely nail down the starting roles and he expressed the importance of both Lewis and Johnson after the game.

“We’re gonna need both of them, so I’m not hung upon who goes out there first,” Freeze said. “I wanna grade the film and see who does the best, but we’re gonna need both of them.”

The offensive line wasn’t tested much, but it had a good performance in the 73-3 win. Auburn averaged just under 10 yards per rush and the line didn’t allow any sacks.

Auburn’s Week 2 matchup against Cal will undoubtedly be a bigger test for the offensive line. Freeze said he wanted to watch the film before grading each player’s performance, but considering his comment about needing both players, it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see the rotation continue into next week.

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al.com

Auburn defensive line rotates, defense shows off depth in win over Alabama A&M

Published: Aug. 31, 2024, 11:54 p.m.

4–5 minutes

Hugh Freeze addresses the media following Auburn's season-opening 73-3 win over Alabama A&M

By

Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.com

Hugh Freeze said all throughout the preseason that there would be rotation on the defensive line.

There was never a clear and set first team on the interior defensive line and a handful of players showed glimpses of high-level productivity during fall camp.

The first game wasn’t much different as Auburn rotated constantly up front in what was a dominant performance from the defensive line as the Tigers beat Alabama A&M 73-3.

"I really want to give credit to our defensive fit, our defensive mindset – play with relentless effort, violent tackling and elite mental execution,” linebacker Dorian Mausi Jr. said after the game.

The fit is in reference to Auburn’s run defense that limited Alabama A&M to just 38 rushing yards and 1.1 yards per rush. That performance was a product of the entire front seven, a unit that featured a lot of different players Saturday night.

True freshman defensive lineman Malik Blocton was one of the surprises of fall camp and he continued to make noise Saturday night. He had a sack and two tackles for loss, becoming a consistent presence in the interior.

He and Amaris Williams, another true freshman, both saw playing time during the first half and even combined for a sack in the third quarter.

“They mean a lot. And it means a lot to us to really set a good example for how you’re supposed to play and how you’re supposed to keep your head,” Mausi said on the freshmen.

Senior BUCK linebacker Jalen McLeod also praised the freshmen.

“Them boys playing confident. They out there playing fast,” McLeod said. “We need to get them some experience because they’re gonna be playing in some big games.”

At the BUCK linebacker position, McLeod is somewhat of an extension of the defensive line, acting primarily as a pass rusher.

As one of the leaders of the group, he had a sack early in the game that created a small shift, despite Auburn cruising for most of the game.

After a deep pass was tipped and caught by Alabama A&M’s Keenan Hambrick, the Bulldogs were set up at the 1-yard line and had a chance to score a touchdown off an Auburn mistake. After a false start, Auburn held its ground on first and second down, before McLeod ended the drive with a sack.

Alabama A&M missed the ensuing field goal, and the Bulldogs never reached the endzone during the game.

“It was like a energy change,” McLeod said recalling the play. “That right there gave everybody confidence.”

Auburn’s defense didn’t seem to be lacking confidence by any means, but the play slammed the door shut on Alabama A&M’s best chance to score a touchdown.

While the stats and scoreboard tell a story of dominance from Auburn’s defense, Freeze wasn’t entirely satisfied with the performance.

"I thought defensively we were okay. “Too many penalties and I think DJ would agree that we misaligned too many times,” Freeze said after the game. “You expect some of that in the opener ‘cause you’re really not sure what you’re gonna see.”

Despite only giving up 38 rushing yards, the Tigers did give up 242 yards through the air. The secondary gave up a few big plays down the field and Freeze thought Auburn’s pass rush could be better too.

Overall, though, Freeze was satisfied with the number of players that got playing time, and is never upset to take a 70-point win into its first Power 4 test against Cal.

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57 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

 

al.com

 

Auburn report card: Grading Auburn's dominant win against Alabama A&M

Published: Sep. 01, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

4–5 minutes

---

 

Auburn puts on a show against Alabama A&M

By

• Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.com

Auburn did what it was supposed to do against Alabama A&M.

It scored a lot points, played a lot of players and made exciting plays. What more can you ask from a season opener?

The Tigers were sound in every phase of the game en route to a 73-3 win. Here’s the AL.com report card for Auburn’s season-opening win.

Offense

Grade: A+

It’s hard not to give the offense an A+ when after a 70-point win.

The offense was responsible for 66 of those points and never looked challenged.

Payton Thorne had statistically the best game of his Auburn career, throwing for 322 yards and four touchdowns while adding another 49 yards and a score on the ground. Auburn took shots with its talented receivers early and often and did so with consistent success.

Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Malcolm Simmons and Sam Jackson V all had touchdown catches of 35 or more yards.

Auburn also rushed for 177 yards as a team, averaging 9.8 yards per rush.

It was far from the best competition, but 73 points and 628 yards of total offense is a lot no matter who you’re facing. With that in mind, the offense earns a perfect score.

Defense:

Grade: B+

In a vacuum, B+ seems a bit harsh for a unit that only gave up three points, but context matters.

Against better opposition, some of the defense’s mistakes would likely result in more points. The secondary gave up a few big plays, none bigger than a 56-yard reception off an Auburn deflection.

Head Coach Hugh Freeze called Auburn’s defensive performance “okay,” which is fair with all things considered. Alabama A&M was able to move the ball at times, stalling in the redzone on multiple occasions.

While it’s fair to point to the Bulldogs’ poor redzone efficiency, it’s also fair to credit Auburn’s redzone defense. Jalen McLeod made a big third down sack just a few plays after the 56-yard reception, that forced Alabama A&M to attempt a field goal that it ended up missing.

Auburn held Alabama A&M to 38 rushing yards while giving up 204 yards through the air. A lot of players got to play, which is never a bad thing early in the season.

The performance was far from poor, but there are still things to clean up going into Week 2.

Special Teams

Grade: A+

It’s hard to find many flaws in Auburn’s special teams performance on Saturday.

The big special teams storyline coming into the game was the debut of freshman kicker Towns McGough starting in the place of Alex McPherson.

McGough looked like a seasoned pro in his debut, making his lone field goal attempt, making all of his extra points and consistently kicking the ball into the endzone on kickoffs.

The other aspects of were solid too. Auburn nearly scored two special teams touchdowns, one on a blocked punt and the other on a Keionte Scott punt return that was brought back after a review showed him stepping out of bounds.

The only real bad moment for Auburn’s special teams came on a 37-yard kick return by Alabama A&M, but the unit played an otherwise perfect game.

Coaching

Grade: A-

There weren’t any big coaching decisions to be made in this game and the staff didn’t make any noticeably bad calls.

Freeze commented after the game that the defense was misaligned too many times, so that’s the only thing that keeps the grade from being higher.

Overall, the staff did its job and now has a live game to build off going into the rest of the season.

Overall

Grade: A

Auburn got the job done Saturday night, and that’s what matters.

It’s hard to make a statement when playing against a heavily overmatched opponent, but the Tigers got everything out of its season opener that it could’ve. They scored a lot of points, got a lot of players reps and most importantly, left the game healthy.

There were things to build on and things to be fixed, but overall, Auburn played well and it’s hard to not give a team an A for its performance when it wins by 70 points.

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Why would you lower grade on coaching due to defense not being aligned properly? Just curious as to the driving logic. Thx