Coach Hugh Freeze sat down with the media on Monday to wrap up the Georgia game and preview the Missouri game. These are the things he said.
Opening remarks…
“Disappointing not to get the win in a game like that. I thought our kids’ effort… the truth of the film, the effort was incredible. It was a tale of two halves for sure. When I talked in the postgame, the film was accurate with what I said. We just find ways to put ourselves in position to lose games and not finding ways to win games. It’s no more telling that this game. The same calls that were executed beautifully in the first half are some of the same calls against the same looks that did not get executed in those game-defining, critical moments. It’s really hard to understand and put your finger on it, but that’s what we have to do as coaches is to figure out how to help our kids believe.
“I think one of the most telling stats of the whole game, defensively we were dominant, stopped the rushing game, really good on first down. They got us in some third-and-longs. We had our season-low in MAs (missed assignments), 23, which is really, really good for an entire football game. However, on the 17-play drive that sealed the game for them, we had 11 of the 23. Same calls against the same type of looks, and we don’t keep the same poise and make the same plays that we had proven to make for three earlier quarters. Same thing offensively. A play that gains 15 yards early in the game against the same look has a minus-2 because we MA on a blocking assignment. Or a pass that was an easy completion became much more difficult for some reason. So we’ve got to start finding ways to win those games. Obviously there were other factors in the game, also, that I thought deflated us somewhat, but we’ve got to battle through all of that. So many positives from the game. Again, I compliment our crowd, our fans, incredible. We’ll need them out even stronger Saturday night as we try to play another top-15 team. I think we’ve proven that we belong in those games, now we’ve got to prove we’re good enough to win those.”
On Damari Alston…
“Damari failed to meet the expectations and standards of our program, and we love him, wish him the best, but that’s where it’s at.”
On considering a quarterback change…
“When you look at the first half, you’re in love with what you see. When you look at parts of the second half, you question why not the same throws, why not the same accuracy. So all of that is certainly worth looking at. We are always getting other guys reps for sure, but Jackson (Arnold) is who we are going with Saturday, and hopefully he gets off to that same start he did again and continues it now throughout four quarters.”
On the response in the locker room after Saturday’s game…
“The locker room… here’s what I believe. I think in this day and time, people feed off of trying to create things that may or may not be true. Here’s the one thing I believe in, and I firmly believe that when the stage is set with adversity, the opportunity for greatness is there. The right type of people, adversity reveals exactly what your character is and what you’re made of and how much you truly care about this place, the people that have given you this opportunity, your brothers in that locker room that you’ve committed to. In this day and time, I guess that commitment is a year at a time, or a semester at a time, but nonetheless, that’s what we’ve signed up for. Adversity reveals that, and I believe that’s a locker room full of guys that are going to fight their tails off because they know how close they are. They know what it means to each other and this place, and how we respond will reveal that. You’ve got to go through it. You can’t go around it. There’s no shortcut, and there’s no easy games. There’s no easy road. The great thing is, you get to find out a lot about yourself and who you really are. And I’m excited to see that. I know what this staff is made of, and I think I know what most of these young men are made of. Many of them are young. They’re learning, and they’re watching. How does coach handle this? The older kids, like Keldric Faulk, who’s an incredible leader, how do they handle these moments that you’re disappointed? And we should be disappointed. We could easily be sitting here having a lot better discussions. But we’re not, and we’ve got to go through it, and this will reveal everything you need to know about everyone in that locker room.”
On how the staff handles expectations of fans, media, etc.…
“I can’t control what your expectations are or what theirs are. I know what ours are, and ours are to get ready to go win a football game just like they were last week. I thought we had a really good plan for our kids to do that. You don’t always win in this league. We knew that when we came here, when we were starting to build, and we’re there. We do have to get different results, and we all knew that when we signed up for it, but anybody that looks at it and doesn’t see that it’s very, very close and attainable really doesn’t know what they’re talking about. We have to get different results, and there’s one way to do that – go back to work and get better at learning how to win when we get those opportunities. Hopefully we get a few breaks that go our way, also. Let’s get in the win column and see if we can’t get on a run.”
On Jackson Arnold’s season to date…
“Critical moments. He’s got to shine, and I think he has done a lot of nice things. Obviously, he is taking care of the football, for the most part, but certainly I think he has got to have a little more poise in the pocket. And when we’ve got to have those critical throws, we have got to make them. We have lacked some of that, so that’s where he has got to improve, and he knows it, and hopefully we will see that Saturday.”
On confirming Damari Alston’s departure and the impact of it…
“He won’t be playing here anymore. Next man up. Get Omar (Mabson II), Alvin (Henderson), Justin (Jones), and those guys ready to roll.”
On Durell Robinson’s status…
“He’s running. I need to ask the medical staff that. That would be nice, too. He is a competitive dude. I’m not sure how close he is. I did see him running on the field this morning while we were having our walk through. I hope he is getting closer and closer, for sure.”
On the offensive line’s improvement last week…
“If you look at three quarters, for sure two-and-a-half, they were pretty dominant. We’re not playing a lot of guys. I don’t know if in the fourth quarter, (Georgia) rotating defensive guys probably helped them some, us not rotating as much. We didn’t look the same as we looked in the first quarter for sure. I thought the first half, they were really dominant. We’ve got to find a way to sustain that for four quarters.”
On Missouri…
“Eli (Drinkwitz) is a good friend, I think he’s one of the best football coaches in the country. What he’s done there is remarkable, to continue to rebuild that roster year-in and year-out, in today’s time, to go find players that fit his culture and his system, and he’s done a great job. He’s got Corey Batoon there, who’s one of my good friends also that worked for me for years, I guess seven or eight years. He’s his defensive coordinator, so I have great respect for them and their staff for the job they do. I think his defense is one of the better we faced, I think they’re fourth in the league in total defense. People aren’t running the ball on them very much at all. They’re scoring points with their quarterbacks and tailbacks, receivers are playing at a very high level. Very talented team, quarterback understands the system Eli wants and plays within it. He uses his legs very well when he needs to. Really good football team that we get an opportunity to test ourselves against.”
On sustaining the same energy for four quarters…
“Watching the film, the passion was still there, particularly defensively. I think offensively some of the air was sucked out when we didn’t go in 17-0 on the call that I still disagree with. The passion, the energy was still there. We just didn’t play with poise and execute at the same level that we had early on in the game. I do think it was somewhat deflating, for sure, offensively not to get a minimum of 17 points, if not more, heading into the half.”
On Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy…
“Big, strong, really good running back, one of the better we face. (Tackling) will definitely be an emphasis. Obviously, we put an emphasis each week on stopping the run and this is no different, but he is one of the better we’ve faced.”
On clarification on officiating decisions from Saturday’s game…
“I was on the phone quite a bit this weekend and had a conversation with Commissioner (Greg) Sankey and with (Coordinator) of Officials John McDaid and expressed how I felt. They listened. Obviously, they want their group to get it right all of the time. It’s just, there were some they did not get right, in my opinion. They can disagree with me, but it’s hurting our football team and it’s hurt, in my opinion, our record. Some of it has to do with us, for sure. I had a good conversation. Commissioner Sankey has always been one who I can talk to, whether I enjoy the conversation or not. He’s a man that I think has great care for the people in this conference and our feelings and what we’re going through. I enjoyed my conversation with him. He understands. They get frustrated when things aren’t done right also, but unfortunately it really doesn’t help us when there’s really nothing you can go back and do. I did have good conversations with them, and I know that their intent is to do the best job possible they can, and it be equal for all that are playing this game in this great conference. It’s just felt like, these last few weeks, that we can’t get a break that goes our way. Some sure look like they should, in my opinion and in many others’ opinions. At the end of the day, you trust that everybody wants to do the best they can, and I’m confident after my conversations with them that’s still their goal. Again, it doesn’t really help my feelings or the feelings of the Auburn fans or our locker room and our kids, but you definitely are going to have those conversations to try to plead your case and defend when (there are) things you feel like could have been done differently.”
On if the SEC discussed their plan to address his concerns…
“No, I don’t think that’s part of the policy. They’re not going to discuss with you the conversations they’re going to have with other people, whether it be officials or other coaches. They’re not going to share that information, and I respect that. You really don’t get that type of feedback.”
