Coach Hugh Freeze and others sat down with the media following their 20-10 loss to Georgia. Here’s are the things they said after the loss.
Coach Hugh Freeze
Opening statement…
“I think it’s very clear that we find ways to not win football games. And that’s what has got to change. That locker room is a good enough football team to play with anyone and to win games. Creating that mentality that believes you’re going to, and finding ways to do it and to do your assignments when it’s called on in critical moments, like you did the entire first half. It’s things that we have to get corrected if we want to experience the joy of winning these close, tough SEC football games. That’s really the way I see it. We felt great about the preparation, felt great about coming into this game. It felt like we were going to win this game, and here I am feeling again that we don’t quite know how to do that. We have to look at it again, all aspects of it. From coaching, to making critical plays at critical moments and why do we not execute the same defensive calls that we executed in the first half and the second half in critical moments. It’s just all of those things. They compound into helping us find ways to not have success on the winning side of the scoreboard. I’m not trying to take anything away from Georgia or previous opponents, but I really feel that way. I feel like it’s us finding ways to not win games.”
Jackson Arnold, QB
On if there was an emotional swing after the lost fumble…
“I really didn’t think it affected us. I think everybody was very positive after that. Obviously, (the touchdown) is something that we wanted, and we wanted to get called our way. But you know, I don’t think it affected us. Win the half still up a touchdown. So it didn’t affect us emotionally, but it would have been great to have.”
Jeremiah Cobb, RB
On improving and building on the first half…
“Just keeping the energy throughout the whole game and just playing ball to the very end.”
On Coach Freeze’s halftime message…
“I mean, don’t hold our heads down. It’s not the end of the season. Keep pushing and keep playing ball.”
On the loss…
“I feel like it’s very tough because everybody in that locker room knows that we beat ourselves and we really were supposed to win that football game. I think that’s why it’s such a tough loss.”
Bobby Jamison-Travis, DL
On team momentum switch after Georgia fumble recovery on Auburn’s 1-yard line…
“No, I don’t think it was a shift, just us locking in. Like I said, moving down the stretch, doing our job, and winning when it really matters. I feel like when we do that we will be at our best.”
On Auburn making a difference moving forward…
“Just our urgency and we prepare the right way, which I feel like we do a good job with. So, just our urgency when the game is on the line.”
Robert Woodyard, LB
On team motivation moving forward…
“We just have to stick together. We have got to learn how to finish games. So, I feel like as a whole we do not finish games, we do not finish games at all. We need to stick together, finish games, and execute, to get us some wins and get it rolling.”
On what the locker room leaders had to say…
“Everybody was very emotional, but like I said we have got to stick together and stay more at home and not pay attention to anything but us. At the end of the day, we are a team, and we all represent Auburn, so we have got to find ways to win.”
Champ Anthony, DB
On how frustrating this game was…
“Well, as a competitor, it’s very frustrating. You know what I’m saying? Playing hard and not getting the outcome that you want. Nobody likes that. But it’s just another opportunity. Your forged in the fire, so we in a fire right now getting built up. So truly just trying to finish season 9-3.”
On shift in the team after the fumble…
“No, there was really no shift. Matter of fact, I feel like we got more energy. I think maybe we got too high, but this team never lacks energy. That’s not one of the problems. This team is always ready to go and win. When a break doesn’t go our way, we just say ‘good,’ and we’re ready for the next play.”
Preston Howard, TE
On the difference in the offense between the first and second half…
“I think just momentum, just the game of football. That’s just how it swings sometimes. I think we could have kept the energy up on the sideline better as a team, but other than that, we just have to execute and we’ll be perfectly fine. I truly believe that we are way better than Georgia. We’re way better than every team we played this year. We just got to go out and put it all together.”
On the momentum after the fumble…
“Yeah, I mean, obviously a turnover’s always going to ruin the momentum, but I don’t have any say on that call. I’ll leave that for Coach Freeze and whatever he has to do for that. Yeah, that definitely shifted the momentum though, and I think we just have to do better when adversity hits, and staying together and rallying.”
Keldric Faulk, DE
On the team’s energy after the goal-line fumble…
“Yeah, that was definitely devastating. We thought that he (Jackson Arnold) scored. I feel like it did carry over. I felt like everybody’s heads weren’t in the right space. Even with that, we still had plenty of chances to go out there and win, even with the missed touchdown. We still had plenty of chances to go and win. I feel like we can’t use that as an excuse about how we didn’t win.”
On if there is frustration building within the team…
“The frustration is definitely there just because everybody knows how good we are. Talent-wise, we are one of the best teams in the country, but you look at the record book, and it shows differently. I feel like that is the most frustrating part about it. We’re in games and we have them won. We just have to find a way to stamp the win. We can’t let the win go and get taken away from us.”
