Hugh Freeze admits he didn't like Auburn's offensive game plan vs. Maryland

The Music City Bowl didn’t go well for Auburn in just about any facet on either side of the ball. That includes offensively where Hugh Freeze admits that their plan was just clearly not good enough.

Freeze spoke about the Tigers’ failed offensive attack following their 31-13 defeat to Maryland in Nashville this weekend. He said that it obviously wasn’t productive and acknowledged that it didn’t get enough attention from him leading up to the bowl.

“Well, obviously, I don’t feel like it was an effective one,” said Freeze. “I didn’t get too involved in it for most of the part until this week because of recruiting and really wanted to kind of evaluate everything about our program.”

The 13 points for Auburn were the second-lowest total for their first season under Freeze as they just got to 300 yards of offense inside Nissan Stadium. That performance included only three conversions on 17 third-down attempts as well as four total turnovers with two interceptions and a pair of lost fumbles.

With Maryland starting with a 21-0 lead, the Terrapins were able to get started and never look back against Auburn after the first quarter with the Tiger offense struggling like it did.

Of their 300 yards, just 76 of them came on the ground for an average of just 2.2 per rush. That was something that Freeze noted as an issue, whether due to the schemes or the offensive line. Compound that with a so-so day from three quarterbacks and that only added to their offensive misfire.

“We didn’t run the ball. It starts there,” Freeze said. “We have to go look at the run schemes that we had. Did we not play hard up front? It’s really hard for me to tell. But they really dominated the line of scrimmage against us. They did load the box now. They forced us to — they had extra hats in the box, for sure.”

“That’s when you’ve got to be able to throw it some. But we didn’t protect the passer real well,” said Freeze. “It wasn’t all the O-line. Sometimes the backs didn’t get the protection right.”

After earning a 6-4 record, Auburn closed the season with a whimper with a three-game losing streak. That leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the form of adjustments on offense, as the Tigers now head into the offseason.

“Anytime you struggle like we did? It’s not – I don’t feel like the plan was great,” said Freeze.

Freeze says the quarterback position is ‘wide open’ heading into offseason

After what transpired in the Music City Bowl and what transpired all season from the quarterback spot, Hugh Freeze didn’t mince words when asked to assess the position heading into the offseason.

“It’s wide open,” he said shortly after Auburn’s 31-13 loss to Maryland.

The comments come after starter Payton Thorne finished 13-27 passing for 84 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the loss. Holden Geriner then entered in the fourth quarter and went 1-6 for eight yards and an interception. Hank Brown also finished 7-9 passing for 132 yards in garbage time.

Freeze said as Auburn started bowl practice that he believed in the potential of Thorne, adding that he was reluctant to dip into the transfer portal for a quarterback before the spring. Has his thought process changed?

“I’m constantly evaluating players, staff, everything,” Freeze said. “If we see that my evaluation has been wrong and we have to change gears to make us better? Then those are the steps we should take. The quarterback position will be an interesting one in spring practice.”