Auburn Tigers Offense, Hugh Freeze Continue to Give Away Winnable Games

It's not just the quarterback costing the Auburn Tigers games. There are a lot of dirty hands on offense when it comes to the killer mistake.

Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers keep finding new and increasingly-maddening ways to lose football games. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Week after week the Auburn Tigers offense has continued to find ways to not win the football game, and Auburn’s road trip to Missouri continued that season-long theme. Auburn was 105-1 in games they led by 14 points or more in the second half. After losing 21-17 to Missouri on Saturday, they're now 105-2 in those situations.

Payton Thorne has taken his share of blame by both head coach Hugh Freeze and the media. But the truth and the unnerving part is that it’s a host of players who keep preventing Auburn from scoring points.

This time the big mess up and turning point in the game came when senior receiver Robert Lewis couldn’t catch an easy touchdown that would have extended Auburn’s lead to 24-6 late in the third quarter. Up 11 with a first and goal at the Missouri 10-yard line, Lewis beat his man off the line, Thorne dropped it in the perfect spot, and Lewis failed to make the catch.

Three plays later Kicker Towns McGough was called on, and as he has done much of the year, missed an easy field goal, this time from 30 yards. McGough is 5-10 on the year and 3-7 in conference contests – plus there was a miss from 27 yards on a penalty versus Oklahoma that didn’t count toward the stats.

Missouri played without starting quarterback Brady Cook for the second and third quarters because of an ankle injury. Despite the announcers continually calling it "non-contact," Cook's leg was rolled up in a tackle on a previous play, and he tried to tough it out.

Cook came back in the fourth and led Missouri to a couple of scores and ultimately a 21-17 win. Auburn’s defense was able to styme the Missouri offense without Cook, and it could have should have been a gift-wrapped opportunity for Auburn to notch a big road with versus a ranked team. However, Auburn did not score again after Lewis’s drop and McGough’s missed kick.

Thorne, as he has been all year, continued to be part of the turnover problem as he and Lewis proved to be a deadly combination versus Missouri. In the second quarter Thorne kept around left end, ran into Lewis, and fumbled the ball away to Missouri. But again, it was a team effort by Auburn to not win the game.

Starting left tackle Percy Lewis didn’t play for long. In both of Auburn’s road games and on the first snap from scrimmage, Lewis failed to even get a hand on his man leading to a sack.

In previous games the key plays going Auburn’s opponents way offensively haven’t been limited to Thorne, Robert Lewis, McGough, and Percy Lewis. KeAndre Lambert-Smith hasn’t run the expected route leading to interceptions or incompletions in crucial situations.

Freshman phenom Cam Coleman has had a pair of slants bounce off his hands and into the hands of defenders. Running backs Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston have lost multiple fumbles. Backup Hank Brown threw three interceptions in a half of play in his only start.

Freeze has worn his frustration on his sleeves this season. He’s been open with the media about Thorne’s mistakes, and week to week he’s expressed frustration about others’ key mistakes. Seeing as it’s a wholesale effort week after week by the offense to find ways to give the game the game away, it ultimately falls at the feet of Freeze.

Freeze has a quarterback who continually makes poor decisions with the ball either through the air or option-running game. Freeze continues to leave the fate of the Auburn Tigers at the hands of the decision making skills of his quarterback.

Robert Lewis caught 111 passes and 14 touchdowns at Georgia State the last four years. But playing for Freeze at Auburn he doesn’t catch an easy touchdown that would have put Auburn up 24-6.

To a degree, Freeze has been getting a pass for his wins and losses because of the terrible roster he inherited and the work he has done to rebuild. But whether it’s communication, practice reps, focus, whatever the issues may be, it’s time for Freeze to fix the problem instead of blaming all of the individual players.

Saturday’s loss dropped Freeze’s head coaching record at Auburn to 8-12. Saturday’s game at Missouri would have been his first win over a ranked team, but alas his team gave another game away.