Last season was a tough one for Hugh Freeze and the Auburn football team. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and then suffered a 31-13 defeat against Maryland in the Music City Bowl, ending with a 6-7 record. Freeze attributes some of the struggles to relinquishing offensive play-calling duties.
“I don’t mean this to say I’m some offensive guru or anything,” Freeze said on Thursday, according to ESPN. “But I felt like I took one of my strengths off the table.”
Offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery handled play-calling duties last season, and Auburn’s offense struggled, averaging just over 26 PPG. Montgomery was fired after the season. The experience left Freeze feeling uneasy.
“For the first time ever, [I] let somebody else design it — and I’m sure they’re really good at it — but it was so dang uncomfortable for me that it affected the confidence of the kids and the chemistry,” Freeze said. “… Just knew I couldn’t go another year and I didn’t think we had the answers [quarterback] Payton [Thorne] needed. That was troublesome to me.”
This season, Freeze plans to be more involved in play-calling, though he won’t do it alone.
“I’m not saying I’m calling it all,” Freeze said. “Nix (new offensive coordinator Derrick Nix) knows it. But I know I can, and that gives me a comfort level, ‘All right, we’re struggling, let me have this for a minute. I know what I want to do,’ and a head coach has that priority to do that.”
Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne is optimistic about the changes.
“I don’t even want to talk about that,” Thorne said regarding last year’s issues. “It wasn’t Coach Freeze’s offense last year. Now that it is his offense, it’s going to be a lot more fun.”
Thorne feels more confident in this year’s offense and believes the team is fully on board with Freeze’s plan.
“We’re going to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Thorne continued. “We’re going to know this is where you’re supposed to be. This is when you’re supposed to be there. This is how you’re supposed to get there. This is where your eyes are supposed to be at quarterback. … All that stuff is winning football. That’s how you are good on offense. And those are going to be the things that we’re doing this year, and I’m going to play fast, too. So this is going to be a much more efficient offense, a much more detailed offense. So I’m really excited about that.”
For Auburn football to improve this season, their offense will need to make significant strides. It sounds like they have the right elements in place to do just that.