Auburn Tigers News: Payton Thorne talks defense, Hugh Freeze reacts to another loss
In today's edition of Auburn Tigers News, quarterback Payton Thorne addresses the defensive performance, and head coach Hugh Freeze reacts to another loss
On Saturday, the Auburn football team once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Despite the defense locking up Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, the offense simply could not make plays to move the ball down the field. In the end, it was a 17-7 loss.
Following the game, quarterback Payton Thorne was quick to take responsibility for the poor showing on offense and even quicker to complement the impressive showing from the defense.
"I want to shout out our defense," Thorne said, per Auburn Undercover. "They played outstanding. They played well enough for us to win the game. They held a good team to 17 points, and we gave them a short field on one of those drives. Credit to them. For us as an offense, we need to finish drives. When we get across the 50, we need to capitalize.
"It's very frustrating. If I was on defense, I would be frustrated. We are human. We say we're a team, and we absolutely are, but that unit is playing well right now, and I feel bad being on the offense and being the quarterback of the offense. We're not helping them out. Credit to them. I know they're going to keep fighting, as are we. It's our job to put more points on the board and get us in the win column. They are playing well enough for us to do that."
Hugh Freeze reacts to another loss
Week after week, Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze has had to hang his head and address the media after disappointing losses. This week was no different, including that there seems to be no explanation or suggestion on how to improve things moving forward. The offense just has to execute.
Freeze credited Vanderbilt for playing a good game, and said he would need to review film to determine the problems the Tigers had.
"I thought Vandy did a good job, played a lot of bear front and did a lot of different things that were going to take away some of the run game from us," Freeze said, per Auburn Undercover. "Thought they tackled extremely well and we, I'd have to watch the film to see how well we strained at the point of attack. It's hard for me to tell that but you know, some of the credit goes to them. They've been very good against the run all year and were today for sure. Whether or not that was a combination of us poorly executing or whether that was them, I have to watch the film and see."