Following another heartbreaking loss for the Auburn Tigers on Saturday, Head Coach Hugh Freeze was careful not to pin the blame completely on quarterback Jackson Arnold. The QB was sacked five times in the Tigers' game against Missouri and threw his first interception of the season.
Still, there are times when receivers have dropped balls or when the offensive line has failed to protect Arnold, and he threw for 207 yards despite keeping hold of the ball during some critical moments. It's a mixed bag with Arnold, but after two seasons of Payton Thorne, the Tigers need more than a mixed bag.
According to Freeze, the Tigers haven't completely ruled out making a change at the quarterback position, and they considered it as one of their options in the leadup to the Missouri game.
"Trust me, I thought and talked with the staff about that the whole time and was prepared," Freeze said, per Auburn Undercover. "I think he's playing really well in the first half. And I don't know that you can argue that some of the drives that didn't have success weren't really on him. And so you want to keep going with that as long as you feel that way, but it certainly is something that has to be discussed and talked about."
But all of a sudden, the losses are adding up, and the chances of the Tigers ending up with a winning season are dropping lower and lower. When push comes to shove, sometimes difficult decisions have to be made. Would a quarterback change even fix things if the coaching staff can't figure out the play-calling situation? Either way, something must be done to get Auburn into the win column, and Freeze and his staff have clearly not shut the door on the idea of giving freshman Deuce Knight an opportunity.