Coach Hugh Freeze sat down with the media following Auburn’s 10-3 loss to Kentucky. This is what he said.
Opening statement…
“It certainly hasn’t been the year any of us expected. Tonight, again, our kids laid it on the line for us — especially defensively, with their effort. Got a couple of turnovers, aut we struggled a little on third down. That was about the only thing, and we let them keep the ball the entire third quarter. But offensively, there are zero excuses for how poorly we’re playing at times. We really struggled to protect tonight. They did a really nice job, and you have to give them some credit. But we’ve struggled offensively, and that is unacceptable the way we played.
Ashton Daniels, QB
On if this was how he thought his first start would go…
“Yeah, not at all. I think we left a lot of things out there on the field. We didn’t execute the way we were supposed to in all facets of the offense, but we are going to obviously go back, watch film and try and find what we can improve on and improve those things for next week.”
On the feeling of the locker room…
“I would say it’s very ticked off. Obviously, these guys, I mean everyone, nobody likes to lose, especially losing at home in front of a community and a crowd that deserves a lot better is really disappointing for us.”
On offense’s difficulty scoring touchdowns…
“To be honest, I really don’t know. We’re going to have to go back and look at the things we missed. A lot of critical situations I think we’re struggling on. And those critical situations in the SEC, you have to be able to go out there and convert those to be able to score points against any SEC defense because of how good they are. I think critical situations is probably the biggest area right now for us to improve on.”
On communication with Jackson Arnold…
“It’s been awesome. Like I said at the beginning of the week, we’re extremely close. We’re a very close quarterback group and whoever was going to go out there and play was going to be prepared. Nothing changed between us and competition is competition at the end of the day – it’s college football and we know what that means and what that is, and we push each other to be better throughout the week. Obviously, we needed a spark tonight and I was extremely supportive of that, and we were both there for each other at all points throughout the night.”
On fans being vocal about disappointment…
“It is difficult. Like I said earlier, this community and fan base deserves a lot more. The support that they continue to come out and give us every single week, regardless of our record, we should be out there winning games for them and we’re not right now. That’s extremely disappointing for us. I know it’s extremely disappointing for them and you know, it hurts.”
Robert Woodyard, LB
On how tough it is to have similar results so many times this season…
“I’d say it’s tough, but I feel like we’ve got the right guys on defense. We just (have to) keep a level head and just continue to work. Just control what we can control and just go day-by-day, just doing what we do best.”
On holding Kentucky to 10 points and what went right on defense…
“Stopping the run and limiting explosive plays was key to victory this game. All week we’ve been counting on stopping the run and limiting explosive plays – and we did that – and I feel like that led us to play even better team defense tonight.”
Brandon Frazier, TE
On the offensive struggles…
“I just didn’t think we sustained the drive, really. We started, backed up a couple of times and got one first down, but you’ve got to give props to Kentucky’s defense. They’re good up front, stopping the run and they did that early on to us. I thought we responded well toward the end of the half, but at the end of the day we’ve got to put points on the board, and we didn’t do that.”
Jeremiah Wright, OL
On Kentucky’s defensive front…
“Kind of gave us some new looks. Just adjusted after halftime and just got to keep screaming. They kept giving us new looks every time we got out there. But we got on the sideline with coach and just had to do a lot of adjusting.”
On the offensive line…
“I wouldn’t say not clicking because, I mean, we know what we are doing on the O-line. We know how to screen, we know our protection, everything we are doing. But it’s a team. We are all a team. One guy not doing their job, it’s all going to fall back on the O-line. Everybody sees when the O-line gives up sacks, but they don’t look at the run games, people who have the ball that don’t gain yards. Just screening, protections, just here and there. I’m a O-lineman so I know how it feels to have all the outside noise and people who say, ‘Hey you gave up this many,’ and this and that.”
