Hugh Freeze Moving Auburn Tigers Closer to Becoming 'Efficient Scoring Machine'

The Auburn Tigers leaned on the legs of quarterback Jackson Arnold in their season-opening win against the Baylor Bears, but head coach Hugh Freeze understands that to get the most out of the season, he’s going to need Arnold’s arm as well.

Against an overmatched Ball State team, Freeze called a game that would get Arnold comfortable in the passing game. He was 24 of 28 for 251 yards and three touchdowns while only netting five yards on the ground.

When told Arnold’s 85.7% completion rate was just shy of an Auburn record, Freeze took the blame for not setting the record Friday night.

“We should have set it, somehow, some way. I didn't know that,” Freeze said after the game with a wry grin. “Probably would have. The only ones he didn't complete, they were really soft, and I probably called a couple too many down the field shots that caused them to get pressure.

“If I had stuck with what I knew was there, I think he was 24 of 28; he probably would have been 28 of 28. I thought he had an excellent night of taking what they gave, used his legs when he needed to.

"Thought it was a really solid night, obviously."  

Auburn has scored 38 and 42 points in their first two games, but they’ve gone about it in different ways. It was a heavy dose of the running game, including 137 from their quarterback, against Baylor. On Saturday night, they got three touchdowns rushing and three touchdowns receiving.

Auburn had 34 pass attempts and 33 rushing attempts; a ratio much more to the liking of Freeze.

“We want to be a fundamentally efficient scoring machine,” Freeze said We'd like to average right at 38 to 40 a game. If you do that, you're going to win a lot of football games. Obviously, there's times where it's gonna get harder, but if we stay ahead of the chains, I think we can be really effective and balanced.   

“The goal is for us to be really balanced, and I thought we took a step toward that for sure.”

Auburn will get another tune-up next week against South Alabama, who gave up 33 points in a loss to Tulane on Saturday. Then the rubber hits the road as SEC play starts against a much-improved Oklahoma Sooner, who are coming off a 24-13 win over Michigan.