Why Auburn's meetings after a 45-point win weren't 'really pleasant'

Auburn had no problem handling UMass in Week 1. But some of what the Tigers did in that blowout have to get corrected very quickly.

HC Hugh Freeze (Austin Perryman/Auburn Athletics)

There were a lot of numbers from Auburn’s 59-14 win over UMass last Saturday that Hugh Freeze liked, and he shared some of them Monday:

Auburn’s offense averaged 7.6 yards per carry. The Tigers had 11 explosive plays and zero turnovers while also scoring on 100% of their red-zone trips.

Auburn’s defense forced UMass to go just 1-11 on third downs. The Tigers created 13 negative plays and forced two turnovers while committing zero penalties on that side of the ball.

Auburn’s special teams had 131 return yards in the first quarter alone. The Tigers’ average starting field position for the game was +48, which is inside UMass territory.

But there was one number that really stuck with Freeze over the weekend.

“The big glaring negative that we got by with in this game, but we will not get by with in future games, is alignment and assignment,” Freeze said. “And that's frustrating to me. We had numerous snaps — probably 15, I think it was — that we were not lined up properly. And it's going to bite us big-time if that continues to be the issue.”

Freeze said after Auburn’s win that, “dadgummit,” he would “enjoy at least for a few hours” the fact that his team won a college football game. Outside of a few negatives, such as some incorrect decisions from quarterback Payton Thorne or the explosive rushing plays given up by the Tigers’ defense, Freeze was positive Saturday.

That tone apparently changed after reviewing the film. Even in a game in which Auburn won by 45 and wasn’t really challenged past the first quarter, Freeze had a lot to critique Sunday.

“I think the best teaching can happen after a win because you can be hard on ‘em, hard on your coaches,” Freeze said. “Our coaches’ meeting, truthfully, yesterday wasn’t really pleasant. It wasn’t demeaning.

“It was, ‘Guys, here are the facts. This is reality. This is who we are right now, and thank God we get to celebrate being 1-0 and won in Jordan-Hare, and we won’t take that lightly. That’s awesome. However, this is what I see — and if that continues, we won’t be celebrating a whole lot.’”

This message carried over into Monday morning’s “truth meeting” with the entire team, before Auburn took advantage of the Labor Day holiday to hold an earlier practice.

Freeze shared the positives and negatives with his team, then made it clear that while the Tigers should be happy about the win, the Cal team it will face Saturday night on the other side of the country is a significant step up in competition.

“The biggest truth of the day was we're 1-0, and we defended our home, and we celebrate that,” Freeze said. “But certainly there's a lot that we can improve on as we look forward to Cal.”

It’s the classic case of process versus results.