Auburn Coach Hugh Freeze Discusses Cal’s Offense and Defense

Coach of Golden Bears’ next opponent is impressed with Bears edges David Freese and Xander Carlton. Freeze makes no mention of Jaydn Ott

Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Three points stood out in the comments Auburn coach Hugh Freeze made on Monday about the Cal team he will face on Saturday in Auburn, Alabama.

---It’s safe to say Auburn’s offense will be prepared to deal with Cal outside linebackers Xavier Carlton and David Reese, because Freeze mentioned those two Golden Bears defenders several times Monday.

---When discussing Cal’s offense, Freeze pointed out the strengths of quarterback Fernando Mendoza, but never mentioned Bears running back Jaydn Ott, the team’s star.

---Freeze admits he might try to get some Cal knowledge from Sam Jackson V, who played quarterback for Cal against Auburn last year but is a backup wide receiver for Auburn this year.

So here’s what Freeze. said.

Freeze doesn’t see much difference in this season’s Cal’s defense from the one that limited Auburn offense to 14 points in the Tigers’ 14-10 victory in Berkeley last year.

“Defensively it’s the same,” he said. “Justin Wilcox is one of the better defensive coordinators in the nation, has been for years.”

Wilcox, of course is not the Bears defensive coordinator, he’s their head coach.

But Freeze continues . . . .

“And Peter Sirmon is with him. Both of those guys have been in Power Five conferences for a long time and done a really nice job, and they did a great job against us last year.”

Then Freeze makes his first reference to Reese and Carlton.

“They have quite a few returners on that side of the ball,” he said. “Both those defensive ends are really, really talented – 44 [Carlton] and 7 [Reese]. You’ve got to have a plan for those guys.”

Freeze said Cal loaded up its defense to stop Auburn’s running game last year.

“Will they play us the same way they did last year? I don’t know,” Freeze said. “Last year they were basically saying, ‘We’re going to make you have to throw the football and win some one-on-ones,’ and we struggled to do that last year.

“So we’ll see. We studied every game that they played from last year and yesterday [Saturday] for the most part and this morning. They didn’t do that the entire year, but that was their plan against us. So we’ll have to see, but I don’t think it’s going to be like . . . It’s not some mystery of what they’re going to play. They’re going to play some even front, some bear [front], and that’s kind of who they’ve been.

“They’ll have a good plan I’m sure. It’ll be a good challenge to sort of see kind of where we are offensively.”

Although Freeze does not expect much new from Cal’s defense, he doesn’t know exactly what the Bears will do offensively under first-year offensive coordinator Mike Bloesch.  He does expect an up-tempo style from the Bears, though.

“For our defensive staff it’s totally different,” Freeze said. “New coordinator, tempo, spread, empty a lot. You have one game to go on with the new coordinator. Obviously we know where he came from [North Texas] and use some of that too.

“But we’re going to have to get ready for tempo. They go fast so that creates problems for communication.”

Cal’s starting quarterback against Auburn is likely to be Fernando Mendoza, who did not play against Auburn last year but started the final eight games of the 2023 season as well as last week’s season opener.

“Big quarterback, strong, good arm, can throw it, so that will be another challenge for us,” Freeze said.

He did not mentioned Jaydn Ott, a first-team all-Pac-12 running last year, when he was ninth in the nation in rushing yards per game (109.6). Ott had only 49 rushing yards per and a 3.5 yards-per-carry average against UC Davis.

Auburn’s offense seems to operating at peak efficiency based on the Tigers’ 73-3 victory over Alabama A&M in the opener on Saturday.  But Freeze sees the Cal defense as a bigger challenge, and he again pointed out Carlton and Reese.

“Here’s our chance to prove we can be a fundamentally efficient scoring machine against who I think plays really good defensive football,” Freeze said.  “So it’ll be a really good test for us. We better have a plan for 44 [Carlton] and 7 [Reese].”

(Reese did not have any tackles or any statistics of any kind in Saturday’s opener and Carlton had five tackles against the Aggies.)

Freeze may get a little inside scouting information from Sam Jackson V, who completed 14 of 27 passes for 129 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions as a Cal quarterback against Auburn last season.  Now, though, Jackson is a backup receiver for Auburn, which may put him in position to give Freeze a few tips about Cal tendencies.

“I may talk to him,” Freeze said, “but I see what they’re doing.”

He figures his defensive coaches and players might talk to Jackson to get some tips from Jackson.

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