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Auburn has lost the plot folks, and it’s not even October. The Tigers dropped to 2-3 on the season with a 27-21 loss to Oklahoma at home on Saturday. Despite leading 14-10 entering the fourth quarter, the Tigers completely imploded in the fourth quarter to lose at home for the third time this season.
Early in the game, it looked like Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze’s pregame decision to switch back to quarterback Payton Thorne a week after benching him paid off. He threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter to give the Tigers a halftime lead, and had another touchdown throw early in the fourth quarter to put his team up 21-10.
But as the quarter went on, Auburn’s offense stalled just as Oklahoma’s offense came alive. The Tigers missed a 51-yard field goal, the Sooners responded with a touchdown drive to make it a one-score game.
On Auburn’s next possession, Thorne helped lead the Tiger offense down to Oklahoma’s 43 yardline. But on third down, Thorne’s pass was picked off by Oklahoma’s Kip Lewis, who returned it 63 yards for a touchdown.
On Auburn’s last two possessions, Thorne completed just four passes, was sacked three times and had one incompletion. Oklahoma scored a field goal with 57 seconds left to make it a six-point lead.
For the Sooners, it was a great bounce-back win following Oklahoma’s disappointing 25-15 loss to Tennessee last week. For Auburn, this was yet another massive collapse by both the Tigers and head coach Hugh Freeze.
The head coach’s seat is getting increasingly warmer as this season goes on. Freeze, who has an 8-10 record overall at Auburn, blamed his players for losses earlier in the season. Following last week’s 24-14 loss to Arkansas, Freeze said inexplicably a few days later that if his team played Arkansas nine more times, they’d beat them nine times. Also, there’s this:
If the Tigers limp through another season, it’s hard to see what momentum Freeze can point to justify performances like blowing a fourth-quarter lead at home. Auburn certainly doesn’t want to go through another coaching search for the third time in four seasons. But you can’t blame the school for considering it if the season keeps going on like this.
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