TIGER TALK REVIEW: Texas A&M Week

It’s once again time for TIGER TALK — this time ahead of Auburn’s game against Texas A&M.

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.

* I refer to Brad Law as “Not Andy” as a sign of affection. Though I had a beef with Brad for a number of years, that beef has been squashed. I said I’d begin referring to him as “Brad” on these reviews, which date back the Tuberville days on HABOTN, but he said he’d prefer I continue referring to him as “Not Andy.” So that’s the story.

AND WE BEGIN …

On Bruce Pearl’s retirement: “He’s just a dear friend. I knew it was coming, I just didn’t know exactly when.”

NOT ANDY asks about Freeze needing to have good relationships with the other Auburn coaches. “Auburn is very unique that it has that.” (Freeze notes that he “always hits it off” with basketball coaches for whatever reason.)

ANDY asks for general thoughts on the Oklahoma game. “Our kids were resilient. Our young freshmen on the defensive side got better. We stopped the run. We contained them fairly well. Offensively, we made some plays. We, obviously, can do some things better. When you’re playing against evenly matched teams, you need to make those plays. We played as poorly as we could play on special teams.”

“I thought it would take three recruiting classes. We’ve had two, but we’re there. I think we possibly could have won (that) game by two scores. It’s frustrating. We don’t have time to pout, for sure. I think this next team is more complete than Oklahoma.”

Pearl calls Freeze, which prompts Freeze to put him on speaker.

NOT ANDY says that means they need to take a break. GUFFAWS ALL AROUND.

THE SECOND SEGMENT

NOT ANDY asks about the conversation with BP. “Bruce was great. He said … we’d played phone tag a little bit earlier. He wanted me to make sure that I knew he’d be at Texas A&M … and he’d be rowdy.”

NOT ANDY asks about how long it takes for a coach to get over a tough loss. “It’s taken a little longer, but you can’t afford to. You’ve got to play the next play and get ready for Texas A&M.”

HERB is in the house. He wants to know how many plays Freeze can send in each week for review. “I went over my quota.”

“I think they oughta start … I don’t know what the professional official on there is saying. Until we get to a point where we’re like the NFL, where we have full-time officials. They make a mistake now, cost people their livelihoods and things, and they get to go back to their office the next day. I’m not saying they don’t care. There’s times where it’s very, very difficult to sit and take it.”

“It would be nice if everybody got to get the report. The commissioner was really kind in his conversation with me and felt bad.”

TEDDY/TEDDI/TEDDYE is in the house. She wants to know why Freeze is so sure that things will be good in the future. He says he thought the secondary improved. “The future is bright. I know everybody … I want it now, too. We could have won the game with those young kids out there.”

THE THIRD SEGMENT

JOHN/JON is in the house. He has a lot of respect for Freeze for showing grace in light of all the officiating garbage last weekend. “That’s only by God’s grace.” GUFFAWS ALL AROUND.

“I wanted to say something at mid-field. I wanted to say something postgame. The spirit within me said you have to rise above that and handle it with some type class in a way that hopefully honors God and honors Auburn. I don’t judge people who do it because I sure want to do it sometimes.”

BUSTER is in the house. He thinks OU and Auburn are evenly matched. He asks no question. “We will get it there. Do people have the patience to withstand the tough times? SEC fans have got to embrace the new world a bit. It’s more of an NFL mentality. The days of running the gauntlet and going 12-0 are over.”

BUSTER has a second question for ANDY or NOT ANDY. He wants clarity on the participation rule.

“You cannot do it,” ANDY says. GUFFAWS ALL AROUND.

(They discuss the rule.) “Intent to deceive is the crux of the thing. You can do it,” NOT ANDY says.

“Y’all did a good job of answering that,” Freeze says with a laugh.

ANDY wants to talk about Auburn’s run defense. “To this point, those guys have bought into … our strength is found in our numbers.” (He offers kudos to Darrion Smith and Jared Smith for helping there as well.)

“I would expect him to play Saturday,” Freeze says of Amaris Williams.

THE FINAL SEGMENT

JIM is in the house. He says the team played hard. He asks about Jackson Arnold. “He did a lot of good things. There were five sacks … where the ball should have come out. We’ve got to improve on that … trusting that our one-on-ones will protect him. Turn it loose and let me blame the receiver. We can’t live in a world where we’re fearful.”

“We’ve got to continue to work with him on feeling comfortable.”

“They did a good job of spying him when he pulled it down. He’s beating himself up over missing Cam on the double move.”

NOT ANDY says the 4th-and-11 play was gutsy. “He’s a competitive dude.”

RALPH is in the house. He wants to know about team health. “I wish we were healthier. It’d be nice to get Amaris and Jay (Crawford) back, for sure.”

SOME DUDE is in the house. He was tickled to see Freeze keep his cool at OU. He wants to know why Auburn doesn’t use the TEs more in the middle. “Believe it or not, that was a huge part of this plan. Dang if they didn’t drop out every single time I called it. I called it like five times. I thought he was going to have a chance, both of them.”

NOT ANDY asks about A&M’s defense. “They’ve been quite different for three games. Everybody is holding stuff back. They’re really well coached and really good at technique. They haven’t been doing all the twisting and moving and plugging.”

Freeze says he didn’t fear the OU run game. “This team, I don’t feel that way about.”

NOT ANDY asks about mid-season points of emphasis. “It’s kind of three different seasons. You have a sesson before the open week. That’s all I try to keep my mind on. this will complete Season One. It sure would be nice to get through Season One 4-1. Be 1-0 this week heading into Season Two.”

Freeze offers a steely, determined WAR EAGLE to close.