This past weekend did not go according to plan for the Auburn football team. It was Tigers vs. Tigers in Baton Rouge, and the purple and gold team came out on top in a big way. Nothing worked for head coach Hugh Freeze and his first-year Auburn football team, with a stagnant offense and defective defense.
What’s worse is that the most devastating loss came after the Tigers had two weeks because of the bye week to plan for the LSU matchup. It seems that two weeks was not enough to make up for the talent gap between the two Tiger teams.
According to Freeze, practices have been going well for the offense and there was sufficient preparation for the game. Tight end Rivaldo Fairweather agreed when asked if he was surprised with the issues on offense, per Auburn Undercover:
"“Kind of,” tight end Rivaldo Fairweather said when asked the same question about practice vs. in-game execution. “A little bit. We really showed that we could really throw the ball in practice. We really executed. But when we get to the game, stuff just doesn’t go the right way sometimes. But we’re going to be fine. I know that we’re going to be explosive coming soon in the next game.”"
However, Fairweather sees a way forward for the team and believes that there are still games to be won this season, even with the offensive struggles that just won’t go away. Freeze told the media not to expect drastic changes in the gameplan going into the Ole Miss matchup, and noted that we should expect to see both Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford at the quarterback spot again this weekend.
But will improvements show up on the field this weekend when the Tigers return home to host the Rebels? Fairweather thinks so:
"“Just trust in our teammates, trust in the coaches,” Fairweather said. “Trust in the plan they got for us and the game plan. … We just started (the Ole Miss game plan) yesterday. It’s some really good plays in there that we could be explosive with. So just trusting our quarterbacks and the quarterbacks trusting in us because I know they do. We just got to go out there and execute.”"
Execution will be key for the Tigers. Can the quarterback throw accurate passes? Can the wide receivers do their part by running accurate routes and winning battles to catch balls? Only time will tell.