TIGER TALK REVIEW: Missouri Week '25

It’s once again time for TIGER TALK — this time as Auburn prepares to play the Missouri Tigers

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

“It appears that now I know how to save myself a delay of game and not get charged a timeout … I just wanted to make sure you knew that the other team was clapping.” (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND)

“It’ll work. It’s worked before.” (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND)

NOT ANDY summons the words of PFD about laying your guts on the line again and again. “I do believe in that. I’m a fighter and so is our staff. That’s what we expect of our kids — and to this point, they’ve been that.”

“Did Coach Dye ever get fined? They may not have fined them back then.” (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND)

“You lay your guts on the line and you do it because you love Auburn.”

“We’ve got to find a way to stop beating ourselves.”

ANDY asks about why things were so bad in the second defense. “Really baffling. Same defense, same plan, same guys. Some of the plays are there to be made.” (He says it’s all about execution.)

“As it gets more tight and crucial, we play more tight.”

“I do think our o-line got a little tired. Jeremiah Wright, for example, was pounding them pretty good. In the fourth quarter, he’s missing some blocks. Maybe we should rest him a little more. I think he should quit wasting energy, at times, that he doesn’t have to.”

“How do we play the same calls perfectly for the better part of three quarters … and then on the most crucial drive of the game, all of the sudden we call the same call and we have three (mental errors) on it? It’s baffling. The moments, right now, we’re not seizing them. It’s almost like we have this feeling of something’s going to happen and we’re not going to be able to do it. I haven’t experienced it quite like this before.”

THE SECOND SEGMENT

HERB is in the house. He is mad about what the guys on the SEC Network were saying about Auburn after the game. “They probably have instructions from somewhere, is the way it starts feeling like. I’m all about some bulletin board material right now.”

(Hugh says there’s a lot of negativity out there in general.) “Now there’s a lot of voices that gives (players) a lot of bad information, in my opinion.”

“I think the majority of our guys are sick of feeling the way we’ve felt for the last three conference games.”

KEN is in the house. He wants to compare UGA and Mizzou defensively. “Missouri has two better pass rushers. Not as big and physically inside as Georgia, but they’re more like the A&M group that does a lot of movement. Georgia’s linebackers are really talented; Missouri’s are good. (Mizzou’s) safeties are really good.”

“Very talented defense. The guy who’s calling it is one of my good friends. He coached for me for eight years.”

NOT ANDY asks about that matchup with Corey Batoon. “It’ll come down to us blocking them, them getting off blocks, them covering us.”

“It won’t come down to Hugh Freeze versus Corey Batoon. It’ll come down to those players.”

PAUL is in the house from England. He wants to know about not letting players be affected by officiating. “I wish that I could do a better job coaching to not … there’s no question in my mind that it deflated our offense not being up 17-0 at the half. Our officials are human. They certainly are entitled to make mistakes. I don’t understand how the replay booth can’t get things more correct. I do not understand how many of these replays have been, in my mind, inconsistent every time against us. We’re due a break. We’re due one.”

THR THIRD SEGMENT

NOT ANDY asks if Auburn is up three scores in a game or up one score at the half … does that change how Hugh calls plays? “That scenario one, I really like. I think that game is over, up three scores. You’re going to be really sound against explosive plays calling defense. Make that clock run. Offensively, you’re going to get in that huddle and use every second of that clock. The confidence level of our kids coming out of halftime up three scores, with that crowd, I think the confidence is off the charts.”

JON/JOHN is in the house. He wants to know about why the third quarter is a problem for the offense and if Ashton Daniels was a consideration. “Last week, we had (Ashton Daniels) ready, but the first half was outstanding for Jackson. We had four possessions in the second half. It was really hard to judge; you had so limited opportunities. Ashton is ready. Deuce stands ready, too. We wouldn’t hesitate to try Ashton. In full candor, I started the year of trying my best to redshirt him, which means he can only play in four games. We have six left. I’m not saying that plan is active anymore; we’re playing to win games. I hope Jackson comes out and plays like he did in the first half. We can’t afford, in close games, to miss throws that are there.”

RALPH is in the house. He wants to know if the young RBs are ready. “Omar is going to get ready to play, for sure. Hopefully Durell is getting healthier. Don’t know that he’ll be ready this week. Omar is itching to play. He’s hungry and he relishes the opportunity he’s going to get with Damari moving on.”

THE FOURTH SEGMENT

TEDDY/TEDDYE/TEDDI/TEDI is in the house. She wants to know about Auburn’s identity for this game. “Grit. Never say die. That we fight for the Auburn family and the Auburn spirit until the final horn is blown.”

BUSTER is in the house. He wants to know about Alvin Henderson. “Omar and Justin Jones would be next up right now. They’ve gotten all the reps during the past few weeks. Hopefully Cobb can stay fresh enough to get most of the reps.”

BRUCE is in the house. He wants to know if Hugh has some trick plays. “We had several last week. I used to be really, really, really aggressive with those. I probably will be again soon when we learn to win. Right now, it’s like we have to live and die with every play call and stay on schedule and not out ourselves in a situation where we’re behind the chains.”

RHONDA/RONDA/RONNDA is in the house. She says she supports the team 100 percent. “I have been so appreciative of people like you. I also know that I get paid to win football games. I know we’re doing that the right way.”

She has a second question. Does he have a message for the fans? “I get the frustrations of us not hsving more wins in that side of the columns. I’m frustrated. I also know what we inherited and I also know how hard it is to build a program in this league. We’ve got to start winning football games in this conference.”

THE FINAL SEGMENT

ANDY says Damari Alston is moving on. (REALLY?) “I said today … that Damari had not met the standards that we expect of the team. My statement was in no way to be demeaning of Damari’s character as a man or a teammate. I think he’s a fine individual. I’ve really enjoyed being around him and coaching him. There are certain standards that we expect of our players … to show up and get ready to complete and play in games. That’s something he was not ready to continue to do. We love him. We think the world of him as a human being. I don’t want anyone to think he’s done something … horribly wrong. It’s just a difference in what moving forward looks like in your commitment level to a team.”

JAN is in the house. She wants to know why the ACC has better replay transparency than the SEC. (Hugh spoke with the Commissioner on Sunday morning and asked him this.) “I can always say he’s been straight with me. I have respect for him as a man. He said that is on my list to discuss. I don’t know that it’s going to happen, but he’s going to look into it and decide what’s best for the league. I think it would be helpful for everybody to hear who’s making the decision and how they’re coming about it.”

NOT ANDY asks about looking ahead to Mizzou. “I take pride in our players seeing me as being consistent. I can go home and pout and feel like your guts have been ripped out. Come Monday morning when our players see me, I’m ready to teach our new theme. It’s time to have some backbone and concentrate on what we can do to correct the things that are causing us to lose games. When I watch these films, it’s more us finding ways to lose games than others beating us, truthfully. Not that they’re not good teams. We’re a good team. We’re finding ways to lose games.”

(He says practice today was good.)

He ends with a “Thank you, Andy. Thank you, Brad.”

BE GOOD. BE YOU.