Freeze Press Conference - Vandy Week

[Paladin 3,305]

 

[RunInRed 16,434]

— In his opening statement, Freeze said he’s excited to sit up here with a SEC win. “This is a direct refection of accountability of little things that we’re trying to instill.”

— Freeze calls the game vs Mississippi State “very solid”. Not perfect, but very solid. Adds that there were too many explosive plays given up by the defense. Offensively, Freeze calls it Auburn’s “best balanced performance, for sure.”

— Freeze says the Vanderbilt game is a “scary game” for him. Adds it’s always been a difficult place to play for him and that its got his full attention.

— Freeze says QB Payton Thorne was really confident in Saturday’s plan and it showed. Says there was four plays that Thorne missed on. 

— Freeze says Thorne was protected the best that he’s been in any game this season. Adds that playing with tempo and taking shots downfield, which Freeze says he’s most comfortable doing, also helped Thorne and the wide receivers’ confidence.

— Freeze adds that Auburn’s special teams unit was one Freeze was really happy with on Saturday. He adds that kicker Alex McPherson has Freeze’s full confidence during games. 

— Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts is one of the best in the nation in gameday defensive play calling, Freeze said.

— Freeze on the offensive line combinations: Says Kam Stutts is a warrior who loves Auburn, but he’s beat up. Says Gunner Britton was also banged up, so he met with Auburn’s OL coach to encourage a rotation along the offensive line. Freeze says he expected a lot more negative plays against Mississippi State, so he was pleased with that group on Saturday. “Our O-Line, I thought, played one of their better games.”

— On freshman center Conner Lew: “Really solid.” Both Lew and Britton are set to be named Players of the Week by the SEC. Adds that they graded out well. 

— On improving the comfort of Payton Thorne: Freeze says he met with his offensive coaches and essentially told them that the only thing they’re going to is use one quarterback. Adds that Thorne really loved it. 

— “I absolutely want to play with tempo. But can you always? No,” Freeze says. “But when we have the opportunities to, we should be ready to. And that’s what we had gotten away from.”

— Freeze says both Izavion Miller and Marcus Harris, despite getting dinged up against Mississippi State, should be good to go against Vanderbilt. “Nothing lingering,” Freeze said. 

— Freeze said being backed up deep in Auburn’s own territory, paired with the defensive adjustments Mississippi State made in the second half of Saturday’s game prevented the Tigers from coming away with more points in the second half of Saturday’s game. 

— “I’ve been there with a really good Ole Miss team and it was tough,” Freeze said of playing Vanderbilt on the road. “They’ve got our full attention.”

— Freeze says Auburn isn’t designing anything new in terms of the run game, but rather just getting better. Adds that the offensive line is getting better, as well as running back Jarquez Hunter. 

— “There was no question there was more fun being had,” Freeze said of Auburn’s production on offense on Saturday. “They had more fun and obviously we played better.”

https://www.al.com/auburnfootball/2023/10/live-updates-from-hugh-freezes-press-conference-as-auburn-looks-ahead-to-vanderbilt.html

[Dwayne Pride 379]

Coach speak.  Blech.  

[shabby 1,958]

21 hours ago, RunInRed said:

— Freeze said being backed up deep in Auburn’s own territory, paired with the defensive adjustments Mississippi State made in the second half of Saturday’s game prevented the Tigers from coming away with more points in the second half of Saturday’s game. 

No coach, that's not what caused the lack of 2nd half points. I'm not sure why Freeze can't own up to the fact that the real cause of this was a conservative reversal of play calling that followed a run, run, pass on 3rd mindset. 

[LPTiger 5,167]

20 minutes ago, shabby said:

No coach, that's not what caused the lack of 2nd half points. I'm not sure why Freeze can't own up to the fact that the real cause of this was a conservative reversal of play calling that followed a run, run, pass on 3rd mindset. 

Shab, he owned up to it more in the actual presser.   He said we went conservative because (1) we were up 3 and then 2 touchdowns and (2) all of the 4th Q possessions started inside our 15.   I was not happy Sunday and started a post about us only throwing it once on 1st down after the half.   After hearing his presser and better understanding how important it was to get that 1st SEC win at home, I'm willing to give him a little more grace now.

Most important, IMO, is the switch seems to have flipped now that playing 2 QBs isn't a good plan.  But that doesn't explain the one play where RA was sent in on 2nd and 12 inside our 20.

I also think our o-line is improved as evidenced by the two SEC awards there.   I'm willing to bet we haven't had 2 offensive lineman recognized in the same week in the last 5 years.

[RunInRed 16,434]

2 minutes ago, shabby said:

No coach, that's not what caused the lack of 2nd half points. I'm not sure why Freeze can't own up to the fact that the real cause of this was a conservative reversal of play calling that followed a run, run, pass on 3rd mindset.