The Jordan-Hare Stadium was full to the brink on October 18. After all, it was the (Auburn) Tigers vs the (Missouri) Tigers face-off. Unfortunately, Hugh Freeze and Auburn went home with a 17-23 loss. Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri struck first in double overtime with a touchdown run, then slammed the door on Auburn with a clutch fourth-down stop to seal the win. This marked the fourth loss in a row for Freeze and co. So one can fathom the frustration, right? 

During the post-game presser, the Auburn head coach said, “I know we’re close, and I know we’re gonna get over the hump… We’re close, but I know people are tired of hearing it. I’m tired of saying it.” Sure, every loss came against ranked opponents. But do the fans care? No way. That’s cold comfort for Tiger fans who thought Freeze would bring back the old Auburn fire. Auburn has lost three of its last four games by a single score. Now, talk about the adrenaline rush. While it left the Auburn fans at the end of their seats, at the end, they got gifted with a massive void.

“Sickening because we could be sitting here with one loss,” even Freeze believes so. “Listen, we all know what we signed up for. I know we fit what Auburn is all about. But Auburn is also about winning football. … We’ve changed the talent level, but at the end of the day, you have to win football games.” Talking about the near-miss moments against Missouri?

The first overtime slipped away for Auburn as the offense went backward, and Alex McPherson’s kick missed the mark. Missouri’s own miss handed them a second chance. But poor Freeze’s boys! Auburn’s offense couldn’t cash in during round two. This means that they have not gotten rid of the problems that showed up during their face-off against Georgia that ended with a 10-20 loss for Auburn. 

The late-game struggles came under the radar in the fourth quarter. As Freeze said, the staff charted 23 missed assignments throughout the game. Alarming enough? Wait. 11 of it came on Georgia’s final touchdown drive. Against Missouri, too, Freeze’s boys failed to come out of the problematic trend. 

Auburn’s second overtime drive was a mess of backward motion. The only good play? A lone 7-yard completion from Jackson Arnold to Preston Howard. With this, the rest went in reverse. It ended in pure frustration as Freeze’s quarterback’s desperate throw to lineman Jeremiah Wright drew an illegal touching penalty and sealed the loss. Looks like to pacify the fans, they might consider making changes with Jackson Arnold at the quarterback position in the future. But why not against Missouri?

Why couldn’t Hugh Freeze count on his plan B? 

Auburn fans might have been looking up to Freeze, who had dropped a hint on the October 13th episode of the Tiger Talk radio show. He said that he wouldn’t hesitate to pass on the baton to Stanford transfer Ashton Daniels if he felt that the vibe with Arnold was off. 

But post-game, here came Freeze’s reaction, “Freeze said they were prepared to make a change at QB during the game today, but said a lot of the unsuccessful drives weren’t on Arnold.” He assured, “Yeah, it’s definitely, it’s not all Jackson,” after the offense soured in overtime. Freeze’s offense failed to gain positive yards on eight plays. Arnold took a costly sack in overtime, missing Cam Coleman flying open on a left-side post against man coverage.

At the end of September, Arnold came into the week averaging 2.97 seconds per drop back this season, per PFF. That made up for Freeze’s quarterback to stoop as low as the 16th lowest in the FBS this season. Despite carrying all the momentum into overtime, Auburn’s offense fizzled out, managing minus-5 yards across two extra frames. But Freeze refused to put all the blame on Arnold. The stats are okay, but not spectacular. Their offense ended the game with 357 total yards, with 207 coming through the air. Do you remember what the Auburn head coach said after losing 16-10 against Texas A&M?

“It was one of the worst experiences, truthfully, of my coaching career, offensively. I take it very, very personally, so the open week wasn’t real pleasant for me. I didn’t take a day off until Saturday,” Hugh Freeze sounded low. After struggling with Oklahoma, Auburn’s offense faltered again, managing just a single yard late against Texas A&M. Seven sacks and key penalties turned promising drives into dead ends. A month later, Freeze still does not feel confident about his offense.