Auburn vs Oklahoma
When: Saturday, September 28. 2:30 PM (Central)
Where: Jordan-Hare
TV: ABC
Season so far, I am 2-2 ... about the same as everyone else.
I finally closed the laptop after watching just a little bit more of the film from the Arkansas loss. Staring at the ceiling for a while, there was this thought nagging me. Now, I am going to nag you with it.
Auburn’s offense is incredibly beautiful in its simplicity. I have studied some difficult offenses, Malzahn runs one. Sean Payton had an amazingly complex offense when he was coaching the Saints with Brees as his QB. Freeze’s offense is incredibly simple for a quarterback. That is why it has been successful with some of the worst athletes to ever play the position. It is also why one of Auburn’s more athletic castaways is now the savior quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. It doesn’t need a top-of-the-line quarterback. It doesn’t require a lot of difficult decisions. What it does require is an attitude of “running, throwing the ball away, and punts are acceptable”. That has been the problem so far. It is literally that simple. The quarterbacks believe there is more to do and are forcing things they shouldn’t. Auburn’s offense is fine. Auburn’s defense is better than fine. That led me to some thoughts prior to the Sooners coming to town.
Through four games, Auburn is ranked 26th overall in passing. A remarkable improvement from last year and a monumental improvement from before then. Averaging over six yards per rush and eight yards per play. I was about to type out all the stats and where Auburn stands on both sides of the ball, then there was this realization that it doesn’t matter. Only two stats matter at this point.
- Turnovers: We have fumbled ten times, lost six. We have thrown eight interceptions.
- Record: We are 2-2
This team, and I can FEEL the collective groan that will come from people reading this, can be a really good football team.
Auburn fans are just wanting to be the Chicken Littles that we are designed to be. If that wasn’t our fate in life we would stop brushing our teeth, grope a cousin, and throw on some houndstooth.
This team is capable of being scary good. Thin at some spots, but those spots also have some major talent upgrades thanks to the recruiting efforts of this staff. So, my free advice to you, if you think the 5% (or less) of Auburn fans that are on 𝕏, or all social medias, are a solid representative of this fanbase, you are wrong. Not everybody is saying Freeze is on the hot seat or are spouting nonsensical ideas about moving Sam Jackson over to QB. He was awful at Cal, yet you want him to work in that position in the SEC? Sheer brilliance, how have you all not been headhunted to be coaches? Not everyone is as down as it is made out to be. We are rebuilding. The adults know this. It is just noise.
It is all just noise. Noise of people with cellphones and opinions. Noise of an alcoholic ex-QB with possible CTE issues being bipolar. The noise of podcasts trying to get your attention by cherry picking quotes to fit their narrative to rile up people for clicks and views. Personally, one of my favorite quotes I have ever heard a coach say was when Freeze said if we played Arkansas 9 more times, we would win 9. People lost their minds because he has no filter. What do you want your coach to say? We would go 3-6? Just stop.
The truth. Auburn should be 4-0. There has been a ton of pontification about what coulda, shoulda, woulda, and what we needa do-a. It is an easy fix to get this team back on track: Stop the turnovers.
How can we do that? Well, I am not paid millions of dollars to make these choices. I do have some ideas I think will end up implemented, as well as a few guesses.
One guess, I think we move forward with Hank Brown at quarterback. I repeat, we know what we have in Payton Thorne. I do not think there is enough separation between these two quarterbacks to say that either gives us a much better chance at winning week to week. The theory being, play the guy with the potential upside, and decide if you are going to have to pop big bucks to go into the portal for a new quarterback for ‘25. At which point you might lose Brown, Walker White, or any legit QB recruit. Not concerned about losing Holden, it is doubtful he ever plays big time football anywhere. All that said, The Baby Goat makes much better reads in the RPO game than Thorne is capable of, throws a better ball at all levels, and is more accurate. Losing or giving up on him would be on par with what we did with Bo Nix. I also would like to reiterate my earlier assertion that this offense is NOT DIFFICULT to operate. There just needs to be a recalibration of goals in the minds of the quarterbacks.
The only reason you move forward with Thorne would be if you wanted to turn your offense into more of a zone read game with some play action throws. He is a better runner than Brown. This is not the offense that Freeze wants to run. We will see what happens. In truth, all of this is just noise as well. As I mentioned earlier, any quarterback can run the Freeze offense if they can just adjust their mindsets.
In the simplest of terms, whoever the quarterback, run the damn football more than you pass it. Even if there is an RPO called and the numbers aren’t forever in your favor, run the damn ball sometimes. Hunter has been running against a stacked box his entire career at Auburn. He can handle it. The offensive line is blocking well, both in pass blocking (two pressures) and excellently in run blocking. It will make the explosive plays happen. Run the dang ball and open up those routes. Less turnovers. Period.
That is it. That is the entire change.
Defensively, you change nothing. You might sit Scott down and have a talk about what his job is and how to force himself to stay in his lane. You might want to get on some tails about stupid penalties. If you just feel the need to change something for the sake of keeping it interesting, fire in a few more single linebacker blitzes. However, Mcleod and Faulk are perfectly capable of getting pressure without blitzes against most teams. The offense just needs to let this defense catch its breath and not keep putting them in short fields. The defense is doing an SEC caliber job despite the injuries and turnovers. I can hear the keyboard warriors fire up now to fuss at me about the rushing three on third downs. Go argue with the majority of college and pro football defensive coordinators that run that in those situations. Which, if you are a recruit, don't you want to run the plays that the next level runs? Isn't that a desire? Guess no one thinks of things like that.
Schematically, Auburn has been sound on both sides of the ball.
That leads us into this weekend’s clash. Both teams are on similar footings. Oklahoma is a bit better on defense, their offense has been struggling. I would say it was worse than Auburn’s statistically. Auburn's has been strong outside of turnovers. Auburn’s defense is not that far from Oklahoma's, just thinner. Don’t kid yourself, the Oklahoma defense is masterfully coached and played top 10 defense, they can just be beaten because of their offense. If Auburn doesn’t commit more than one turnover, I think they will win by a touchdown or more. I am not confident enough to bet on it. The line has Oklahoma as 2.5-point favorites at the time I am writing this. That is fair. I am seeing a low scoring game. It would take a lot to get me to pick against Auburn at Jordan-Hare with another freshmen quarterback from the opposing school starting. It doesn’t inspire me to believe this is “a lot”. I really see this game as similar to the Arkansas game. This could easily be a blowout either way. It could be a close SEC dogfight. I am going to go with the home team, with a better offense running their defense against a freshmen QB when its his first SEC start. Welcome to your first SEC road game Sooners. You lose.
Auburn 28 - Oklahoma 24
This is another team whose color scheme is remarkably close to the Gump's...I guess they are the easiest crayons to get out of the box. With that in mind, maybe you want to pick up some pretty new Barner Gear from Barner Supply! Browse the site and get a coozy along with a couple of dozen hats and a few polos. You also might wanna give @BarnerSupply on 𝕏 a follow as well, for updates and generally smart posts.
Matthew is an experienced sportswriter who has joined Barner Supply as the managing editor, bringing with him a rich background in sports journalism. With a career spanning major outlets like Sports Illustrated and ESPN, Matthew has built a reputation for insightful coverage of teams across the Southeast. His deep dives into the Auburn Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Memphis Grizzlies, and Tennessee Titans have earned him a loyal following, known for his sharp analysis and engaging storytelling. At Barner Supply, Matthew looks forward to continuing his tradition of excellence, delivering compelling stories and expert commentary to a more focused audience. He can be found on 𝕏 @Mindful_Legacy
