Dating back to preseason practice, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze expressed his opinions on the Tigers’ pass protection issues.
Considering this is one of the more experienced units in the nation, with 276 career games combined, and a supposed bright spot of this Auburn squad, the offensive line has left much to be desired – especially after last week’s 10-sack debacle – in pass protection.
Freeze on pass protection struggles
There were many contributing factors as to why Jackson Arnold lived on his back for much of the day against the Sooners. Obviously, Oklahoma’s defensive line is considered to be one of the better units in the country. But, as any observer of the Tigers’ game could see, there were times when Arnold held on to the ball for too long.
Freeze wants to see him improve in his timing with the receivers, because, after all, Auburn’s crop of talent outside has proven to be too much for opposing teams to handle at times.
“Tough environment, tough defense, but we’ve got to trust our guys,” said Freeze. “Good things happened when he did that, and we’ve just got to continue to work to improve that. Don’t think he could do a whole lot about five of them, but there’s 50% that I think the ball’s got to come out.”
Arnold’s role in the pressure
Of course, Arnold isn’t to blame for all of the Tigers’ mishaps offensively. He had a rather impressive performance with 221 yards and a touchdown on a 66% completion rate, despite a pair of missed deep balls to Cam Coleman.
At times, Auburn’s front five simply lost their one-on-one battles. Sooners’ edge rusher R Mason Thomas, who sat out of the first half last Saturday due to a targeting penalty suffered the week before, made that apparent in his first few snaps of the game. And, of course, on the safety, which ultimately halted Auburn’s shot at a downfield scoring drive to end the game.
Sooners’ defense brings the heat
Thomas finished with two sacks, and defensive tackle Jayden Jackson finished with two 2.5 sacks. Not to mention, linebacker Kip Lewis – who Tiger fans have nightmares about after last year’s 11-point lead faded away in the final minutes due to his pick six return. He finished with a game-high 10 tackles.
“I thought we had some really good plans to check some of their all-out pressure, and we hurt them with it a few times. They made some adjustments to that, too, but a lot of it came from just internal twists and things. Their kids played extremely hard; you have to give them credit,” said Freeze.
“That’s a really good defense. I don’t think rolling out was an option against them, but we have got to strain and get better and get the ball out those times that we did have some shots and some one-on-ones,” he later added.
Looking ahead to Texas A&M
The Tigers will once again have to be on their A-game this Saturday against the Texas A&M Aggies. They rank in the top 20 nationally in tackles for loss and quarterback sacks, averaging 8.7 TFLs and three sacks per game.
“We’re really closer, and we’ll get to get tested again, certainly, with an excellent top-10 team on the road at (Texas) A&M,” said Freeze. “Disappointing, it stings, but we’ve got to put it behind us and move on to A&M, for sure.”
The Tigers will kick off against the Aggies at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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