Auburn's offense is playing not to lose instead of playing to win
The Tigers have blown several winnable games by cracking under the pressure, and that starts with the head coach.
HC Hugh Freeze (Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — They say that, sometimes, a team can take on the personality of its coach.
The 2024 Auburn football team coached by Hugh Freeze — particularly on the offensive side — fits that bill.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been a good thing.
Auburn is 2-5. It lost twice at home to teams that it beat last season, and it’s now lost twice in SEC play in games in which it had a two-score lead well into the second half.
“I do think we still play not to lose instead of, man, let's play to win,” Freeze said Monday. “Truthfully, we probably are coaching that way some, too. I feel the pressure of those calls, of not being free to do what I've done for years. ‘Oh, man, we could screw this up or we could not execute this correctly.’
“So those are all feelings that are real and legitimate — and probably have an effect on us not finishing games really well.”
Throughout the season, Auburn’s offense has been unable to capitalize on clear-cut opportunities. (Auburn’s defense has experienced similar issues, mostly involving a rough rate of success on third-and-longs.)
Auburn’s red-zone offense ranks dead last in SEC vs. SEC games in several areas: overall scoring percentage (62.5%), touchdown percentage (25%) and the number of trips inside the 20 (eight in four games).
The Tigers are 108th in the FBS in points per scoring opportunity, and their rate of creating those chances ranks 99th nationally.
Auburn was up 17-6 midway through the third quarter against Missouri. It then went on a 13-play, 63-yard drive that ended in zero points after a dropped touchdown by Robert Lewis, a sack on second down, a short pass toward the sidelines on third down, and a missed short field goal by a struggling young kicker in Towns McGough.
“We have to make that play,” Freeze said. “It hits him right in the hands. It's a perfect throw. And I'm not beating up Robert. He's one of our greatest kids on our team. … He sent a text out to us on the bus, to the team, that would break your heart. Just, like, 'That's on me.'
“And, obviously, there's a lot of other plays. But you make that play, or you make that field goal, or you make a different call as a coach at a different time, the game could have easily been over.”
Even after Missouri took advantage of McGough’s missed field goal and turned a 78-yard pass on third-and-10 into a touchdown, Auburn still got the ball with the lead on three more possessions.
Auburn’s offense went 3-and-out on the first drive. On the second drive, the Tigers followed up an 18-yard pass to Lewis with a 6-yard run from Jarquez Hunter. Then Hunter was stuffed for no gain on second-and-4, and Payton Thorne missed a wide-open Rivaldo Fairweather on third-and-4, leading to a punt.
“He had a little pressure on him,” Freeze said. “We didn't protect extremely well on that play. But, boy, if we can make that throw, that's a game-changer.”
Then, on the third drive, Auburn started at the Missouri 37 with 5:56 remaining. A touchdown would effectively ice the game. Instead, the Tigers went backwards twice before Thorne threw an incompletion to Sam Jackson V on third-and-long.
“I wanted to, when we got that ball, take a shot,” Freeze said. “And, man, five years ago, I'd have done that and not worried. But then you're second-and-10 (if you miss it), and we didn't give it to 27 (Hunter) like we should have. Then we give it to 27, and we don't execute it exactly right.”
If it feels like Auburn’s offense gets too tense, too nervous and too fearful to execute in clutch situations — it’s not just the players.