Auburn coach Hugh Freeze: “We need to find a guy who won’t throw the ball to the other team”
Auburn has been plagued by turnovers so far in 2024.
The Tigers lost the ball five times in their miserable 24-14 home loss to Arkansas on Saturday. Starting quarterback Hank Brown threw three interceptions before being replaced by Payton Thorne in the second half. Thorne also threw an interception in the first half and Damari Alston fumbled in the end zone.
Brown made his second start after Thorne started the first two games of the season. The Tigers’ quarterbacks have thrown a total of eight interceptions in four games. Auburn has also lost the ball six times.
“I know there are guys free and I know we’re going to run the ball,” Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. “And we have to find a player that won’t throw the ball to the other team. And we have to find running backs that will hold onto the ball.”
Freeze was clearly referring to Alston’s fumble, which occurred in the first half when Arkansas led 7-0. The Razorbacks couldn’t convert his fumble into points, but the loss was the first of three consecutive Auburn possessions that ended in a turnover. Brown threw interceptions on the Tigers’ next two opportunities.
That led to Freeze making a quarterback switch at halftime as Thorne took over for the second half. He started in the team’s season-opening win over Alabama A&M and the Week 2 loss to Cal before Freeze made a switch before Week 3 against New Mexico. After the loss to Cal, Freeze attributed the game to mistakes by the players rather than the coaching staff on his postgame Coach’s Show. He said, “There was one play in that game that I thought was a poor decision by our staff.”
Following Freeze’s comments on Saturday, one of his former Ole Miss quarterbacks criticized his remarks. Bo Wallace played for Freeze when he was at Oxford and said Freeze’s criticism of players was part of a pattern.
We’re getting to the point where he’s let down so many quarterbacks that maybe no one will want to play for him anymore?? His offense helped me tremendously in improving my numbers when I dislocated my shoulder…. But why is it every time there’s a loss it’s someone else’s fault?? …but when there’s… https://t.co/ADJoR1BzYJ
– BoWallace (@bowallace14) 22 September 2024
Auburn did not add a quarterback through the transfer portal after the 2023 season because Thorne was the team’s starter in Freeze’s first year. With both Brown and Thorne struggling in the first four games, Freeze said he wasn’t sure who would start in Week 5 against an Oklahoma team that also wants to get on track offensively.
“I have no idea right now, but I’ll be back at it tomorrow. I’ll be more focused than ever to try to fix the problem.”
