Takeaways: Hugh Freeze on Auburn’s improving defense, what makes a successful playcaller and more
AUBURN — Hugh Freeze has never won in Baton Rouge and Auburn football has only won once there since 1999. Freeze and co. will head to Death Valley as a double-digit underdog, the second straight game that’s happened after going into the Georgia game as a 14-point underdog.
QUICK NOTES
— Auburn leads the SEC and ranks 14th nationally in red zone defense (.692). The Tigers are third in the SEC in team pass efficiency defense (116.38).
— Auburn trails the all-time series with LSU 32-24-1. The home team has won 18 of the last 23 meetings in the series. Thirteen of the last 18 meetings have been decided by seven points or less.
Here’s what Freeze had to say during the SEC teleconference on Wednesday.
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LSU’s offense has been the topic of the week for obvious reasons. Jayden Daniels is a Heisman candidate, and Pro Football Focus grades Daniels as the third-best quarterback in the nation through six weeks behind only Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke. (Side note: Georgia’s Carson Beck ranks sixth by PFF, and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart ranks seventh nationally. Meaning, Auburn will play three of the top seven quarterbacks nationally according to PFF in a three-game span.)
But as good as LSU’s offense has been, Auburn’s defense has done some good things, too. Auburn is within the top six in the SEC in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60+ yard plays allowed, second in turnovers gained, and fourth in red zone conversions and third-down conversions.
“I think we’ve been pretty good at most things. Like all teams, collectively as a whole team, struggling in some areas. Those margins of errors for victory come down to a few plays. Defensively, we’ve played extremely well a lot of times, but we still will have those five or six plays during the game where we’ll screw up alignment or assignment, and it’ll cost us. Because of the make up of our team, those are magnified more. Our kids are playing at a high and competitive level. It would be really, really good if we were healthy. But like many teams, we’re going through some of those difficulties also.”
As with every meeting with Freeze these days, the quarterback position was a topic of discussion. Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford both did good things against Georgia, with Thorne leading the team in rushing and managing the game well, while Ashford added a rushing touchdown and some other nice runs.
“I thought there was a lot of improvement in the Georgia game. There’s six to 10 plays that went the wrong way. I’m not talking about Georgia’s athletic ability beating you, but us not coaching it properly or our kids not executing it properly that had a magnifying glass on directly effecting the outcome. That’s on us as coaches to get that corrected. But I thought our quarterback play was pretty solid.”
Before the Georgia game, head coach Kirby Smart praised Freeze’s abilities as an offensive coach, calling him one of the better playcallers in college football. Freeze was asked on Wednesday what goes into being an effective play caller?
“I think play callers are a different breed. I think there’s a ton of guys that can sit in a room and formulate an incredible game plan, but don’t have the instincts and the ability to see what’s going on when the defense is attacking different ways, and maybe can’t call a great game. Then there’s those that probably can’t put on paper the greatest game plans, but can stand on the sideline or sit in the booth and they have this instinctive knack to call a game. They are different people.
“I compare it to being a geometry teacher. I taught geometry when I was in high school coach and I think your mid works in angles and space, and able to see things in that manner. I don’t know if that even makes sense, but that’s how I view play calling. There are guys that are instinctive in doing that. I remember asking a certain coach in this league when we were visiting, ‘you’ve had some really good offensive coordinators, which one would you want if you had one shot to win it all on a Saturday.’ His answer was, ‘for the game plans, this one, for the playcalling, this one.’ I thought it was interesting and proved my thoughts.”
On Monday, Freeze talked about how much he enjoyed playing in Baton Rouge. He mentioned listening to Garth Brooks over the loud speakers inside Tiger Stadium before the game, and also was reminded that he’s 0-3 all-time in Death Valley, with a six-point, three-point and 17-point loss while at Ole Miss.
“We had two shots at winning there, one was a whipping. They always have some of the best talent in the country. My first experience was being an assistant at Ole Miss and listening the stories of that rivalry…that was a pretty big rivalry for me when I first got into the conference. That is probably why going there and competing is always so very important.
“And I like Garth Brooks, that plays a part of it also. He puts on a great show. He has the unique ability to make everybody in the audience feel like he honors you, which I think is a very attractive quality in people. Bruce Pearl has that same quality, he just makes people feel honored by him. I think Garth, Eric Church, has always given me that impression which is why I like them.”
What did Freeze see from LSU in the last three quarters at Missouri, as LSU stormed back from a double-digit first-half deficit to win by 10?
“They’ve gone back to being, I assume, I guess they could change again, but they went back to playing sound and not a lot of coverages. Everybody doing the same job over and over and over again. They have great athletes. It seemed like they had a better understanding of what they were wanting to get accomplished and putting people in the right spots. That’s what it appeared to me.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly mentioned on Monday that he knew Freeze through SEC meetings recently, praising Freeze’s ability to coordinate and call plays on offense. Kelly mentioned that Freeze is one of the best at figuring out the strengths of his offense and forming an offensive game plan around those strengths.
What does Freeze think about Kelly?
“We’ve sat together and visited and talked about vacation spots and things. I can’t say that we’ve done a lot of things off the field together. We certainly get along well and I think a lot of him, and what he’s done as a coach. I’ve enjoyed being around him and think he’s done a great job.”
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