Auburn football couldn't pass vs. LSU. Is there anyone the Tigers can throw on? l Silva
BATON ROUGE, LA — This was supposed to be the week.
The stars were aligned. Auburn football only threw for 88 yards against Georgia on Sept. 30, but six of Payton Thorne's nine incompletions in that one were balls coach Hugh Freeze felt his pass-catchers should have hauled in. UGA's defense may have made nice plays, but the ball hit the receivers in the hands, and those are the types of plays necessary to knock off the nation's No. 1 team.
Perhaps even more important was the upcoming opponent. There were points to build on from the game versus the Bulldogs, and the next team due up on Auburn's schedule was LSU. The Bayou Bengals, despite their offensive proficiency, are horrendous on defense, at least by the numbers. They entered Week 7 giving up more than 280 yards a game, which ranks in the bottom 10 nationally.
Oh, and one more point: Freeze and his staff had the open week to concoct a game plan for LSU. A full 14 days to tinker with the playbook, hammer coaching points into Thorne and tidy up issues with the offense.
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None of that was done. At least not effectively.
Thorne and backup quarterback Robby Ashford combined to complete 15 of their 27 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown, giving Auburn its first game of 100 or more passing yards against a team in the Power Five since October 2022.
It still wasn't good enough. Auburn had just 46 passing yards at halftime. LSU had already jumped out to a 20-7 lead by then. Take out Auburn's two biggest plays − a 39-yard toss from Ashford to tight end Brandon Frazier and a 32-yard pass from Thorne to receiver Jay Fair − and Auburn is left with just 83 passing yards.
We can't do that, obviously. Auburn earned those plays. But it goes to show the passing attack wasn't that much better, despite finally eclipsing 100 yards. And to make the point again: It happened against an LSU defense that allowed its previous three opponents to score a combined 125 points.
"I felt really good about the plan," Freeze said. "I felt like we had a chance to maybe get some long drives and keep our defense on the sideline. We just never found any consistency, so it's disappointing, for sure."
There's plenty of blame to hand out and fingers to point. Is it Freeze's fault? Thorne's fault? Is the onus on offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery? All of the above? Is there equal blame to go around?
We'll never know for sure. And only Freeze's opinion on the manner matters, anyway.
But the bottom line is something is amiss. Freeze was better than this at Liberty and Ole Miss; he helped revolutionize the conference with his RPO-based offense during his time with the Rebels in the 2010s. Montgomery was better than this at Tulsa, too, as was Thorne at Michigan State.
The pieces put together haven't meshed through the first half of the season. LSU was supposed to be the week they did.
That didn't happen. And they probably won't get a better chance to figure it out this season.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football's passing woes vs. LSU are far beyond alarming
