BY BRANDON HUGHES
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPINION — “I probably should have been a little more committed [to the run]. We averaged three-and-a-half yards [per carry] last week against a really good run defense (Oklahoma). You’ve got to be able to be balanced somehow, so they can’t just tee off on you. So I think it’s critical we find a way to get those dirty runs that keep us ahead of the chains.” Those were the words of Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze after the Oklahoma game.
Freeze stated that one of the “Keys to victory” against Texas A&M was the run game, about which he said, “Gotta have it.”
How did Freeze show his commitment to the “gotta have it” run game? He opened with three pass plays, resulting in a three-and-out with a sack. He showed it by not handing the ball to a running back until Auburn’s fifth offensive drive and the 18th play of the game. He was so committed to the run game that Tiger running backs had four first-half carries across seven offensive drives, with two of those carries coming on 3rd and 15 and 3rd and 23.
Auburn running backs carried the ball a total of eight times on the day. Of the eight carries by Auburn backs, four were when Auburn needed 15 or more yards for a first down. For perspective, in the final scoring drive against Baylor in week one, Auburn running backs carried the ball seven times.
When asked about the lack of carries by running backs, Freeze said, “We probably need to be calling some more runs.” [Insert eye roll emoji].
For those keeping score at home, Freeze’s commitment to the ground game featured eight handoffs to running backs and 48 — yes, 48 — drop-backs to pass. Auburn had 23 first-down snaps and ran the ball on four of them.
To make matters worse, the Aggies entered the game with the 13th-worst rushing defense in the SEC. Oh, and Jeremiah Cobb leads the SEC in runs of 40 yards or more — he had six carries in the game.
Knowing all of that, it should come as no surprise that Auburn’s offense looked inept as the Tigers (3-2, 0-2) fell to Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0) 16-10 in College Station.
And before anyone points out that the Tigers played it close on the road against a top ten opponent, let’s look at the numbers: Auburn had more penalty yards in the first half (54) than rushing yards (30); Auburn had more penalties in the first half (8) than first downs (3); Tiger linebacker Xavier Atkins had more yards on his interception return (73) than the Tiger offense had total yards in the second half (72); Auburn gained 1 yard in the 4th quarter (on 11 plays).
After the game, Freeze was asked about his message to the team.
“I told them in there, just keep playing, the ball is going to bounce our way soon,” he said.
This loss was not about bad bounces; it was about bad offensive coaching and poor play calling. His message to the team was basically, “We’ll get lucky eventually.” But as the adage goes, hope is not a strategy.
Texas A&M got off to a fast start with a four-play touchdown drive covering 66 yards in just 1:41, but that was the only time they would cross the goalline. In the last game the Aggies played, they put up 41 points in South Bend against a stingy Notre Dame defense. Auburn’s defense, however, would prove to be more than up to the task, holding the high-powered Aggie offense to just three field goals the remainder of the game. Still, it was not enough.
Down 13-3 in the fourth quarter, the Tiger defense breathed life back into the team when Atkins’ interception set up the Auburn offense at the two-yard line. Auburn’s Jackson Arnold rolled to his right, looking to pass on first down, when, seeing his two receivers covered, he dipped into the endzone for the only Tiger touchdown of the day.
Auburn had the ball twice in the 4th quarter, down 16-10. On their first opportunity for the go-ahead score, Auburn threw three incompletions and punted. But once again, the defense did its job, getting the offense the ball back with 1:48 to play and a timeout.
After gaining nine yards on first and second downs and needing only a single yard to extend the drive, Arnold handed the ball off…just kidding. With two plays to get a single yard and the game on the line, Freeze called two pass plays. The first was incomplete, and the 4th down play resulted in a sack, because of course it did.
Freeze used the term “Unacceptable” ad nauseam in reference to the offensive performance after the game. I suspect that’s the sentiment shared by many Auburn faithful, but he’s the head coach and the play-caller, and the offensive performance is tied directly to him. The Tigers have now scored less than 20 points in 40% of their games under Freeze.
The question that begs to be asked is, if Freeze is an offensive coach, and the offense isn’t good, then what is his value as the head coach? Harsh? Maybe. But this is big-boy football; it’s the SEC, and he is being paid $6.7 million this season. The players deserve better than what they’ve gotten. Freeze is now 5-13 in the SEC, 1-10 versus ranked teams, and 0-6 against ranked teams on the road.
Auburn has faced 22 Power 5 teams under Freeze. His record in those games is 7-15. The Tigers average 32.1 points and 243.9 yards rushing in the wins. In the losses, the offense averages 15.5 points and 114.7 rushing yards. In games where Auburn rushes for less than 150 yards, the Tigers are 1-12. See a correlation?
“We have two weeks to prepare for Georgia,” Freeze said after the game. “We’ll take that time to evaluate everything related to our offense.”
Arnold was asked in the postgame about the frustrations surrounding the performance of the offense, and his succinct response was: “It sucks.”
And the crowd said, “Amen.”
By the Numbers:
- Auburn is 3-28 on 3rd down conversions in SEC play. Auburn needed 9-plus yards on 17 of the 28, converting only one of those.
- Auburn failed to convert a single third down in a game for the first time since 2006 (Georgia).
- Auburn has begun SEC play 0-2 in three consecutive seasons for the first time in its history.
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