AUBURN, Ala. - It will be a long week on the plains for Hugh Freeze and company after a disappointing 21-14 loss to the California Golden Bears. There will be a lot of questions that need answering, and perhaps the one most encompassing, where do the Tigers go from here?
Ball security will certainly be a talking point. The Tigers turned the ball over five times, and it could have been more without penalties and reviews. Senior quarterback Payton Thorne was responsible for the majority of them, throwing four interceptions.
“We have to do a better job protecting the ball,” Thorne said. “It starts with me. I touch the ball every play.”
Giving the ball to the opponent five times in one contest certainly gives you quite a hill to climb. It wasn’t lost on the team the necessity of taking care of the football.
“Five turnovers won’t win you a football game,” senior captain Luke Deal said. “And that offensive performance will never win you a football game.”
The offensive performance was poor, mostly due to the lack of rhythm that the team was able to find. After an eight-play, 75-yard drive to open the game, the offense stalled out, not scoring again until 6:06 left in the third.
The Tiger offense was pass-heavy in the first half. Thorne threw 15 times, while running back Jarquez Hunter only had five carries. It seemed as though the Tigers tried to implement the running game into the second-half gameplan, but sacks kept them behind schedule.
“I thought we were running the ball fairly effectively at the beginning of the second half,” Freeze said. “We just never could get in any kind of rhythm. We tried to mix it up between run and pass and we would get sacked.”
Protecting the quarterback is another thing Auburn will look to emphasize as the season progresses. California did not have a single sack last game against UC Davis, but had three in this contest. The constant pressure on the quarterback and the big losses were also contributing factors to the Tiger turnovers.
Another step for Auburn will be to keep building on what was successful. The defense for the Tigers was very solid, especially in the later stages of the game. They were on the field for the majority of the game, and delivered multiple big stops to keep the team within striking distance.
Defensive end Keldric Faulk came up big on his birthday. The sophomore exploded for eight tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks.
“I think that our communication in the first half was not as good as it should have been,” Faulk said. “When we came out in the second half, we over-communicated. We were in our right gaps. We covered our right man. We were just honing in on our keys.”
The team leaders will also be crucial in righting the ship this week and putting this loss in the rearview mirror.
“This is my sixth season here,” Deal said. “I’ve had a bunch of mediocre seasons, and that’s not what we’re trying to get accomplished this year. Anything less than what our goal is and what our expectations are, whatever we put out there on the field, anything less than that is on me. It’s on the other captains and the guys who drive this culture.”
Key talking points the leaders and coaches will be harping on this week will almost certainly include ball security, quarterback protection and responsibility. The Tigers will have to wait until next week when they take on New Mexico to see if they are able to find solutions to those questionable aspects of their game.
With the loss coming in week two, there is still plenty of time for Auburn to get back on the right path. A first step in the right direction would be a convincing performance over New Mexico. That homecoming weekend matchup is set for kickoff at 6:30 p.m. CT next Saturday. Coverage will be live from the Auburn Sports Network and ESPN2.
