Coach Hugh Freeze sat down with the media following whatever that was. And as a microcosm of something being off the entire night, the audio is off in the video. Here is what he had to say.
Opening Statement…
As good as last week felt and as complete as we played in all three phases, it was the exact opposite today. And it is very disappointing. Our university deserves a better effort than that, and that’s my job to make sure they give that, and we did not today.
On how practices were this week…
Not as good if I’m being truthful. I mean, I thought Tuesday was okay. Wednesday and Thursday were not up to par for sure. Now, I don’t want to sit here and not give credit to New Mexico State. They’re very confident. Jerry Kill is a heck of a football coach. They had the right calls at the right time. They milked the clock. I bet we didn’t have forty offensive plays between all the penalties. We kept killing ourselves with that, and them controlling the clock so I give them the credit for that. But the effort we had is not what Auburn deserves.”
And now for an added bonus, here’s what a few of the players said about the loss.
Payton Thorne, QB
On what NMSU’s defense was doing that made it difficult for Auburn’s offense…
I thought they played together and well as a unit. I feel like they had answers for things and that we hurt ourselves quite a bit. They came out and played hard so I will give credit to them. They’re a good team, and that was their ninth win. They stopped the run and did a good job defending us on the outside as well. We couldn’t get it going enough to get the ball in the end zone.
On how hard it is to get momentum after so many penalties…
Whatever the situation is, you have got to get going at some point. You have got to overcome the penalties and we did not do that tonight. If we want to be a really good offense, then we have to do those things. Number one, you don’t shoot yourself in the foot, but if you do, you have got to be able to recover. As I said, we did not do that tonight, so we have some work to do.
Jaylin Simpson, DB
On tonight’s loss to New Mexico State…
I don’t even know how to feel right now to be honest…I am in disbelief. It doesn’t feel like real life to me.
On defensive issues…
In the beginning, we always start out a little slow. I thought that’s what was going on, but I don’t know, man. They wanted it more than us. Flat out. That’s just how I feel.
On taking this loss as motivation for Iron Bowl…
We better get back to the drawing board for sure. We need to have the 24-hour rule, get the corrections we need to get, and just completely throw this one in the trash and focus on the biggest game of the season.
Keionte Scott, CB
On how NMSU surprised them offensively…
Just execution. I haven’t seen the tape yet, of course, but I know for sure we didn’t tackle well. We just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities as a defense like we normally do.
On struggling with the QB scrambles…
A moving quarterback is always difficult to go against, so we’ve just got to do a better job of containing them. Then when he does scramble and throw those radical balls, we’ve got to take advantage of the opportunity.
Eugene Asante, LB
On tonight’s game…
Yeah, pretty bizarre game, I think. We just came out flat. The guys, we never really got in our groove. When you play football like that… you can’t be like that.
On what caused the most trouble for the defense…
They have a really good quarterback. Just different things, moving the pocket and trying to neutralize our D-line tackles on the outside a little bit. They had a pretty good team. New Mexico State coaches has a good game plan, and truthfully, it’s on us players to evaluate them and look within ourselves, myself included. I didn’t play nearly as good as I wanted. We just have to improve.
Rivaldo Fairweather, TE
On the feeling in the locker room after tonight’s loss…
We’re just disappointed. Everybody knows we play better than that. You just got to just learn from this mistake we made and just come back 10 times harder next game.
On what went wrong today…
They just wanted it more than us today. I don’t know what the energy was, but you never underestimate an opponent. They just wanted it more than us today and we’ve just got to be better.
Transcript via Auburn Athletics.
