The Auburn Tigers' 42-3 win against Ball State on Saturday night was a total fireworks show, as anticipated.
The fans also caught a much-awaited glimpse of star freshman quarterback Deuce Knight in action. Knight's stunning flashes of athleticism, such as going airborne, were the thrilling part.
However, overall, Freeze felt his debut didn't quite meet his expectations and left him a touch underwhelmed.
"Yeah, I was kind of shocked he didn't complete more balls. Every time you've thrown him in a scrimmage, he's lit it up. And I couldn't see (that) on the field, really," Freeze said in his post-game interview.
Freeze brought out Knight in the fourth quarter, which didn't leave him with much time to get a score that looks good enough for a debut.
His accuracy seemed a bit off in the plays he made. Knight completed 2-of-5 passes for 20 yards and added another 16 on the field.
"It could be the route was a little off, or I know on one of them – the first one, I think he hit Bryce in the hands, and it was a drop," Freeze said. "The next one, I think he was expecting Sam to maybe work an inside stem a little bit.
"But I can't remember the rest of them. Did a good job on that third-down play, find the tight end as his hot read. I actually thought on the – that was a quarterback called read, and I thought he was fixing to – he was close to getting out, and we were going to see how fast he was."
Knight will have some good opportunities ahead to make a splash. Given that he still needs some polishing around the edges, chances are Freeze will play him again next Saturday vs. South Alabama to prepare him to rise to the occasion during high-stakes, high-pressure SEC games.