Final: Auburn 59 UMass 14
AUBURN – Stay tuned for all live updates from the press box as Auburn takes on UMass in the first game of the Hugh Freeze era.
As always, there will be live game notes, analysis, and breakdown of the game as it happens. Keep the refresh button going as updates will be coming in quick and consistently.
4th quarter updates
— If it is a short yardage play.. Roberts is bringing heat. Bank on it.
3rd quarter updates
— Bring in the backup backups..
— And there is Jeremiah Cobb looking a lot like he did when I first saw him in 10th grade. Great play and you can see that acceleration. It is elite. Touchdown Auburn! Kam Stutts was kicking tail on that one.
— Welcome to the party, Keldric Faulk.. Two big plays by him. He went with the bull and pushed through guard and tackle beautifully.
— Ashford rifles a throw to an out route.. Not a great route by Hooks, but WAYY too much heat on the throw. I remember saying this a lot last year. Didn’t have to say it with Thorne in the game. Pretty much everything he throws has touch. Ashford throws like he is gunning home from the outfield.
— Micah Riley-Ducker comes in and does what I have been saying he was really good at since he played high school ball in Nebraska: an open field block. Pancake.
— Another linebacker blitz. This time it was Asante.
— Great job by Champ Anthony to fight through that block on the perimeter run. He drew the holding. Auburn is giving up some perimeter plays, however. Struggling in containing and setting the edge.
— Thorne finds Jay Fair over the seam. He came from the middle man of the trips to the field. He switched with the inside receiver of the trips and ran it up the seam. Easy rhythm throw for Thorne. Big play. Auburn 45 UMass 7
— Interesting look there on defense. Roberts brought Nixon from the middle and dropped Sings into the middle where Nixon left. He is constantly sending people from different areas and covering it with zone coverage.
— Starting to file in the second teamers now. Larry Nixon and Eugene Asante sniffed out the screen beautifully.
— Keionte Scott just cut Phommachanh in half… Again, a blitz from the edge. So simple, but unstoppable today. Simpson gets a pick 6.
2nd quarter updates
— Second attempt at the back shoulder, back to Hooks again. Back shoulder counter: 2.
— Eugene Asante is currently Auburn’s leading tackler with 5 tackles, Scott and Kaufman both have 3. Kaufman has a sack, 2 tackles for loss, and forced fumble (Strip sack).
— SPARK PLUG! Eugene Asante and Steve Sings create big time pressure and come up with the sack on 3rd down. Great blitz dial up there. Every gap was accounted for and blitzed in.
— Corner blitz from Keionte Scott.. Receiver even tried to point it out.. Still disruptive.
— UMass runs an inside zone play and throws McCallister and Lawrence Johnson right out of the way. Check that, Johnson was going across for some reason and opened the hole.
— They gave Ashford a rollout pass play.. Which is good and not predictable with his package. He dives for the pylon. Great play. He and Thorne had a celebration on the sideline together.
— Ashford back in for the goal line package.. Freeze ran down the sideline for a timeout.
— Auburn just got in the I, went for a play action rollout/waggle type of play. Nobody was open. Good coverage there by UMass. They are more used to seeing that.
— Precision throw by Thorne to Johnson on the slot fade. Second slot fade of the game.
— DONOVON KAUFMAN, THE EDGE RUSHER. Roberts LOVES sending his nickel, and it has been the best thing for AUburn’s defense today. Huge play.. and he is a strip artist. 4th strip of his career. It is an art.
— I really like Justin Rogers in the middle. He continues to cause disruptions. Faulk is finally in the game and squeezing hard on the perimeter plays. A couple of pretty good plays calls to get in space for UMass.
— Ashford back in, student body left again. Good run. Hurry up, then a zone read with a perfect read and pull. 1st and goal with tempo. I don’t think Ashford read this play, and he didn’t have to. Touchdown Auburn!
— Freeze just threw his headset in the direction of Payton Thorne.. Not entirely sure why, but he is not happy.
— Miscommunication between Tyler Fromm and Thorne on the throw.. It was schemed open though. I think the throw was too far.
— Back shoulder to Hooks.. Back shoulder counter: 1
— Jeremiah Cobb checks in and has a BEAUTIFUL pass protection pickup.. He leaked Thorne and Thorne makes a rope throw on the run to Shane Hooks.
— DJ James misses a layup interception.. The blitz came from Cam Riley and he did a beautiful job of pushing the blocker into the quarterback. Forced a timing issue. This defense is designed to take the QB off of his preferred timing. So far so good.
— So, Scott wasn’t in at nickel.. Kaufman takes over, times the snap beautifully at the edge and makes a huge play. And then he gets a sack doing the EXACT SAME THING..
— Robby Ashford in for a redzone package? Student body left.. A play right out of the Will Friend/Cadillac Williams playing calling days.. And it worked again. Touchdown Auburn!
1st quarter updates
— As soon as I saw the bounce, I knew Scott was about to have a shot at a big return.
— Much better drive. Front four got pressure a few times with Scott providing some extra rush. They are sending him and I love it.. This was the role I wanted for Owen Pappoe.
— There’s that Justin Rogers guy closing the pocket and creating a sack. I like Rogers.
— Keionte Scott is literally playing on the edge.. He is walked down like an edge player or outside linebacker. He has caused some timing issues a few times.
— I don’t like the QB switch. Didn’t feel like a momentum grabber to me.
— Thorne trots back out after three plays for a 3rd and 9. Great call with the screen, just did not execute it. It was very close to good execution and being a touchdown play from my view. Auburn will settle for 3.
— Robby Ashford is in the game.. First play is Q Counter.. He could have gotten in the hole, but went outside. If you’re going to have a package.. At least let him throw I guess. I wouldn’t want to disrupt the flow, though.
— They went right back to the switch comeback and Thorne threw a dangerous one.. But awesome catch by Johnson.
— Shane Hooks was lost on the scramble drill. He didn’t help Thorne when he was extending the play.. The receivers looked confused on the tempo RPO play.
— Comeback switch route.. Jay Fair switched with Shorter and ran a comeback. Excellent throw from Thorne..
— Britton back at right tackle, Stutts at left guard, Wright at right guard.. Montgomery dialed up a slot fade to Fair.. Second big throw they have drawn up for him. That is interesting.
— Kick return has looked nice the first two times.. A nice hole opened up and Battie got right in it. He is going to be a weapon and is fearless.
— Huge drive for UMass.. Auburn’s defense looked somewhat suspect on the edges and perimeter there. UMass didn’t try to keep it between the tackles. There will have to be some adjustments made with defending the zone reads.
— UMass caught Auburn on a corner blitz and threw right behind it. Good play call, bad throw. Auburn got lucky.
— Eugene Asante is a spark plug.. Put him on kick off.. I like it. Tanner Burns, the special teams coordinator had them doing high-knees on the field during the break. That was a first.
— Unbelievably fast drive.. I couldn’t keep up. I saw a counter play, an inside zone, and a couple of mismatch throws with a screen. But the tempo was the big thing.
— Battie didn’t make the right read on this counter play, but his speed made up for it. So, good job, Battie.
— First chance with Hooks being one-on-one, they went right at it. Love to see that. Mismatches should be a big part of this offense.
— Wow.. The tempo had a guy wide open.. Thorne put too much air under it. Fair had to come back.. Thorne has taken a couple of shots already, too.
— Izavion Miller gets the start at left tackle, Gunner Britton at Left guard.. Very nice
Pre-game notes
Pre-game notes from Auburn Live’s Justin Hokanson:
— I see Damari Alston, Brian Battie, Jeremiah Cobb and Sean Jackson warming up on the field. I do not see Jarquez Hunter.
— Robby Ashford is dressed and warming up.
— Alex McPherson hit a FG from 60-plus, looked like 63 or 64 yards.
— The amount of visitors on the sideline would make you think this is a big-time SEC game, not an opener against UMass.
— Malcolm Johnson Jr. is dressed and warming up. He’s been injured. Same with Koy Moore.
— Nick Mardner, Caleb Wooden, JD Rhym and Nehemiah Pritchett are all wearing street clothes. They won’t play today.
— It looks like Izavion Miller will start at RT, with Gunner Britton moving to LG. Dillon Wade is LT, Avery Jones at C and Kam Stutts at RG.
— Looks like Kayin Lee will get the start opposite of DJ James at corner with Pritchett’s absence.
— Hooks, Fair and Shorter will start at WR.
