This weekend, the Auburn football program will host the Ole Miss Rebels on the Plains and will be looking for its first SEC win of the 2023 season. Head coach Hugh Freeze knew things were going to get harder when the Tigers began SEC play, but it seems like the team has repeatedly taken one step forward and two steps back.
The Tigers lost in appalling fashion to the Texas A&M Aggies, but then somehow managed to nearly beat the #1 Georgia Bulldogs in Jordan-Hare Stadium the following weekend. Then, after two weeks off, Auburn got demolished by LSU in Baton Rouge.
While the defense has looked mostly strong throughout this season, the offense has failed to gain traction time and again. Freeze and the staff cannot name one quarterback, and insist on continuing to play both Robby Ashford and Payton Thorne. Meanwhile, the wide receivers are struggling to run correct routes and win battles to catch passes.
According to offensive lineman Dillon Wade, the effort put forth so far has not been enough,per Auburn Rivals:
"“We have to find out what our identity is because almost beating Georgia is not beating Georgia. It’s not good enough,” said Wade. “We lost to whoever we played by 30, that happens. But this week, we threw away the film and we’re just going to get better and go back to the fundamentals.”"
Wade went on to say that the Tigers have officially reached “crunch time” and it’s up to the players to come together and be strong as a unit rather than folding in the face of adversity. Freeze agreed, noting that one of the keys to beating Ole Miss this weekend will be for the Auburn football team to play for each other.
Auburn and Ole Miss will kick off from Jordan-Hare Stadium at 6:00 p.m. central time on Saturday night.