Following Auburn's loss to Cal 21-14 this past Saturday, Freeze took to the podium to address the media on the program’s fourth-straight FBS loss dating back to last season and his outlook on the team moving forward.
“First of all, we aren't talented enough yet to play bad and win,” Freeze said. “And I know everybody doesn't want to hear that. The way we're choosing to build this is to try to develop young men, and obviously, if you follow recruiting, we're starting to get our roster to be better, but we can't play poorly and win, particularly [with] five turnovers.”
The five turnovers – four of which were interceptions thrown by quarterback Payton Throne – continues a trend of Freeze offenses averaging 1.9 turnovers per game since his tenure began at Auburn.
“Don't turn it over five times, and I think we would've found a way to score enough points to win even though we played bad,” Freeze said. “But not when you're having, 3-and-out, turnover, 3-and-out, turnover, one-play, turnover, one play, turnover. You're not going to get in any rhythm.”
The Tigers’ had just 13 offensive possessions against Cal, five consisted of turnovers all of which on either the first or second play of the drive and two were three-and-outs.
“Let me just say this about the calls on the staff, from Nix and Kent and the people who made calls: There were some really good calls made in that game. And we had people running wide-open. And Payton missed three of those that I think changed the game in the first half,” Freeze said.
The fifth-year senior quarterback struggled to locate receivers and get the ball to them as the game progressed going nine-of-27 for 62 yards and a career-high four interceptions in the final three quarters and change on Saturday.
“That's a hard one,” Freeze said when asked directly if he could make a quarterback change as soon as this weekend. “I think y'all know me. I'm not going to tell you something that's not true, so I think — I mean, could it? Yes. Do I think I want to see how the week goes before I really decide that? Yes. I want to see how the week goes and see how everybody responds to what is on the tape.”
Although his head coach leaves the door open at the possibility of a new starter at quarterback, it’ll likely take a major change in practice this week for Thorne to at least not be the starter this coming Saturday against New Mexico.
“The struggle with it is that it's really hard to not play a young man, whether it's Payton or
whoever else it is — it's really hard for me to not play a young man that is consistently the best performer in practice, over and over and over and over again,” Freeze said. “His execution of the offense, it's been pretty clear to all of us throughout fall camp and throughout the practice weeks and everything, his performance and his understanding of what we want to do has been better than the others. If you do that, then you kind of send a message that practice really doesn't matter.”
But unfortunately for Freeze and his offensive staff it won’t get an easier – from a personal prospective – in the near future with offensive tackle Izavion Miller and receiver Cam Coleman exiting Saturday and not likely to return this week.
“Both will be questionable, for sure. I think Cam probably has a better shot of playing than Too Tall. Too Tall tried to come back in, I think that was one of the hits Payton took right when he was throwing. He just couldn't move, he's got a hip issue. We've had the MRIs on both of them, it's nothing that's season-ending, thank God. Probably it will be difficult for Too Tall to play. I'm not sure on Cam. It depends on how quickly he gets a range of motion in that shoulder,” Freeze said.
For an offensive line that struggled down the stretch Saturday giving up three sacks for 25 yards and the Golden Bears recording five tackles for loss for a total of 34 lost yards, injuries will continue to shake up the rotation.
“Probably going to have to this week go with a Frazier (Bradyn Joiner) and Tate at guard and probably move one of these, Tyler or Percy one will have to go to right or Dillon. Most likely we’ll have to move D-Wade to tackle this week and I’m not sure which one yet,” Freeze said. “Those would be the four guys, but you’ll probably see us have to move D-Wade out some. Maybe not every snap, but I would think you’ll see him some at tackle this week.”
For a program that’s now 3-7 in its last 10 home games against Power Four teams, it’ll be up to everyone in the building to improve not just for this Saturday’s matchup with New Mexico but the challenging SEC slate ahead.
“Man, football season is a long season. There were many, many good teams that struggled Saturday. Some got beat like we did. One game cannot define a season, and I know that's the outside world, the noise that comes with today's times. I know that your players hear all of that. So that is a real battle that you have to face,” Freeze said.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
