Hugh Freeze, the coach of Auburn, spoke his opinions candidly at the team’s news conference following the team’s 24–14 loss over Arkansas on Saturday, citing struggles from quarterbacks Hank Brown and Payton Thorne. After throwing three interceptions in the game, Brown was benched. In the second half, Thorne entered the game and finally scored two touchdowns to put Auburn on the scoreboard.
Between those scores, though, he threw one interception. Auburn running back Damari Alston mishandled the ball in the first half in addition to his interceptions. Freeze had a somewhat direct comment when he talked about the way his offense played on Saturday. “I know that there’s people open and I know that we’re running the football,” Free freeze added.
“We need to find a running back who can hold onto the ball and a man who won’t chuck it to the opposition team. The majority of people in the nation are running some variation of this system. But in any system you decide on, you need to have a strong quarterback.”
This wasn’t Auburn’s first season-long loss due to turnovers. Two weeks ago, in their lone other defeat, 21-14 against California, Thorne threw two fumbles and four interceptions. Freeze was compelled to bench Thorne for the previous two weeks due to this defeat. Next Saturday, Auburn’s offense will face a formidable opponent in No. 15 Oklahoma as the Tigers attempt to avenge their defeat.
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