TIGER TALK REVIEW: Kentucky Week '25

It’s once again time for TIGER TALK — this time as Auburn prepares to play the Kentucky Wildcats.

WHERE TO LISTEN: You can check here to see which radio station near you may be carrying the show. You also can click that link and get hooked into the stream through Auburn’s web portal.

WHERE TO WATCH: You can check here to see if the Tiger Talk Live Stream is active. I am told everyone can watch the stream on War Eagle + even if you’re not a paid member. I am not sure this is true. I will update this as conditions merit.

THE FIRST SEGMENT

Hugh Freeze opens with: “Good evening, Andy.”

ANDY congratulates Hugh on the win. “I’m happy for all of our fans, players and our staff.”

ANDY notes that Auburn dominated during the second half Saturday. “The temptation to … they hadn’t stopped us the whole first half. The whole game plan for people to know … these folks were averaging 36 points per game. We were going to control the time of possession. The defense only play 43 snaps. I’ve never had that happen before. That temptation for everyone to go: ‘Here we go again.‘ That temptation was there. I had to confess that it entered my mind. I battled it pretty quickly. We just didn’t score as many touchdowns as we’d have liked.”

“Couldn’t be prouder of the resilience of the staff and the players … to go on the road and get the win.”

NOT ANDY notes that Arkansas didn’t rush the ball well at all. “Our No. 1 goal every week defensively is stop the run. We’ve done that pretty effectively. Incredible job by our staff and our kids.”

(Hugh notes that they used Xavier Atkins as a spy four weeks ago and got his eyes wrong at that point in his development. Atkins is better now. “In this game, he closed on that guy every time and … created two negative plays on it. Four weeks ago, he probably runs over here and the kid scrambles for 40 yards. He did his job.”)

THE SECOND SEGMENT

ANDY wants to know about the situation at quarterback. “I don’t think there’s any better motivator than competition. That’s what it will be this week. They will split reps. It comes down to who handles these third-down situations best. Jackson has looked incredible at leading (the scripted drives early in the games.) There are times … when there seems to be a lull. I don’t think it’s a lack of effort. Let’s let them compete and see where they land. I wouldn’t want the opponent to know which way I was learning.”

HERB is in the house. He wants to know about playing three quarterbacks and preserving the redshirts. (This stuff is getting weird. Deuce Knight?) “My No. 1 goal is focus is to beat Kentucky. If there is a way for us to win games first and pull that off second, that would be incredibly good. Let’s see if we can win each week.”

NOT ANDY asks about what Cam Coleman‘s second-half returned affected Arkansas. “Cam probably shouldn’t have been out there. He couldn’t push off and cut. He couldn’t accelerate. I think it made it harder on us to run the football because they weren’t as threatened with (Cam) out there.”

BUSTER is in the house. He’s happy that Auburn won. He loves Xavier Atkins. He loves gaining 7 or 8 yards on first down. “When we win first down, people are in trouble. We’re not very good when we don’t. Now we’ve got to finish more drives when we get down (to the red zone.)”

BUSTER asks about the trick play. Hugh calls it WOLF PACK. “The first time I ever called that, I was at Ole Miss as an assistant coach. It was to Dexter McCluster and it was a touchdown. I went back and watched all of my Arkansas State trick plays. That was the first one on it. They did not know where the ball was. That was fun to watch.”

ANDY suggests Auburn might run it again. “Nahhhhh. It could be devastating if we run it again.” (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND)

THE THIRD SEGMENT

ANDY notes that Auburn bogs down in the red zone. “We were excellent though the first four weeks.”

(Hugh then goes through various plays that he thinks should have been touchdowns last weekend in the red zone.)

NOT ANDY mentions that John Vaughn missed a bunch of field goals at LSU and then came back a week later to win a game with a kick. He makes a parallel with Alex McPherson. “There was no one … that felt worse about our lost to Missouri than Alex. I told him, listen, this ain’t on you. You’ll make the next one. You’re not defined by your results on the football field. Don’t let the negativity … affect who you are and what you know you can do. It was really, really, really satisfying to see him be who Alex really is.”

ANDY asks about Kentucky. “Very, very, very scary team. I know what their record is (winless in league play) and I also know what ours is (one league win) and I know we’re as good as some of the top teams. They probably feel the same way. This freshman quarterback is impressive.”

ANDY notes that UK’s defense is good against the run. “No one has been really able to run the ball effectively on them. They’re really talented up front.”

THE FINAL SEGMENT

NOT ANDY mentions that Halloween is this week. Hugh claims to not know that. Will Hugh be trick-or-treating? “I’ll be the hotel, so I’m good.”

NOT ANDY follows up to ask if Hugh liked Halloween as a kid. There is a dramatic pause. “We enjoyed going to roll yards. We thought that was hilarious. I don’t know if that made everybody in the community really happy. I had a group of friends. We were rogues.”

NOT ANDY asks about how Jordan-Hare Stadium could negatively affect UK’s young quarterback. “He wasn’t the original starter. I don’t think he’s been on the road yet. I’m hopeful that our Auburn fans will make it really, really, really difficult for him.”

ANDY asks about keeping it going after the Arkansas. “Just go a little farther. Just go a little farther. We talked all last week about finishing well. That was all last week. Now it’s a challenge of … it’s a game of inches. Just do a little more as a coach. Do a little more as a player. If we can convince them to do that, hopefully the results will follow.”

NOT ANDY asks about what to expect from Jeremiah Cobb this weekend. He notes that Cobb’s 28 carries were the most for an Auburn back since the 2017 season. “That is a lot. He’s having a really great year. You’ve got to be careful with the load you put on his body. He’s not build like Jarquez. We do monitor his practice reps more than we did Jarquez. We do get Durell back this week, so that helps. It’s really hard not to want to give him the ball when you’re having success with it.”

ANDY says he’s enthusiastic about seeing Auburn play Saturday. “Us too. Can’t wait.”

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