Hugh Freeze: 'We've got something in the run game,' must stay balanced

Auburn has gotten off to a little bit of a slow start against Texas A&M, shut out through the first quarter and unable to get much going in the passing game.

But things could be worse.

The Tigers avoided a disaster just before the end of the third quarter when a pitch to running back Damari Alston went sour, with Texas A&M blasting him in the stomach, forcing a fumble and scooping it up to score on a 63-yard return.

But the controversial scoop and score was overturned after officials determined the pitch was actually a forward pass and Alston didn’t possess it long enough to be a catch.

Coach Hugh Freeze caught up with the ESPN broadcast crew after the first quarter and shared his thoughts.

“Well we only had two drives in the first quarter,” Freeze said. “The first wasn’t good, but the second we were obviously moving along and obviously had the negative play there that put us in third and long.”

However, while Auburn finished the first quarter trailing 6-0, the Tigers seemed to be finding some rhythm in the run game.

Running back Jarquez Hunter had logged three carries for 33 yards, while Alston had run twice for 12 yards. The Tigers were beginning to lean on the ground game in the second quarter.

Hugh Freeze, though, suggested the team still needs a little bit more.

“I think we’ve got something in the run game that we can do, but we’re still going to have to find a way to get balanced,” he said.

Starting quarterback Payton Thorne was just 4-of-9 passing for 33 yards at the time of this writing, with Texas A&M in possession.

The Aggies scored their points on a pair of Randy Bond field goals, first from 51 yards out and then from 32 yards.