No love for the Bears ony how could Auburn lose to a team picked 10th in the ACC.

Hugh Freeze
Given what he took over, Freeze deserved a mulligan for last year's 6-7 finish. We'll see if that same understanding continues in 2024 after Auburn's 21-14 loss at home to new ACC member California, which kicked things off last week with an underwhelming 31-13 win against UC Davis. So how do the Tigers lose at home to a team picked to finish 10th in the ACC? Well, those five turnovers didn't help. Four came via interceptions by quarterback Payton Thorne, who has tossed at least one pick in each of his five games against the Power Four. Does Freeze need to make a change to get Auburn back into a bowl?

Payton Thorne did hand us the game on a golden platter, which I greatly appreciate.

Big C said:

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Payton Thorne did hand us the game on a golden platter, which I greatly appreciate.

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Response. Good teams do not beat themselves.

Though probably true regarding Cal's 'late wake up' against UC Davis, it is still amusing that a 31-13 drubbing of a top tier FCS program is considered "underwhelming", while Auburn's 'embarrassment' of 'bottom feeding FCS Alabama A&M' was somehow supposed to have telegraphed their football 'might', or 'superiority' over Cal.

I was watching the game on my phone, so I couldn't tell if, other than one of the picks, if it was Thorne having a brain fart or if it was exceptional defense jumping on what were actually good throws.

Anybody have some insight on that?

to my untrained eye, at least 3 of the interceptions were poor throws where only the defender had a chance.

not to take anything away from our D - this is likely because of pressure both mental and physical. but we weren't exactly winning contested jump balls.

Agree. It was great that we were able to dial up some pressure... and kudos to our D for being able to take advantage, but Thorne made a number of bad reads / bad throws.

lmsk said:

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to my untrained eye, at least 3 of the interceptions were poor throws where only the defender had a chance.

not to take anything away from our D - this is likely because of pressure both mental and physical. but we weren't exactly winning contested jump balls.

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On one the target WR (#8) was wiiiiide open if we hadn't gotten the tip. One of the games scarier moments

It was a mix. The first pick was a decently thrown slant that was tipped by the receiver right to Nohl. The second was tipped coming out of Thorne's hand (or maybe someone hit his arm as he was throwing), so hard to blame that one on the QB, unless he took too much time getting rid of the ball, which is possible. The third pick was a streak route up the left sideline during their 2 min drill that was kind of thrown back shoulder or up for grabs. What Thorne didn't know is that his receiver had been injured the play before and sort of gave up on the ball so Nohl said thank you very much and grabbed it uncontested. The fourth was a terrible throw right to Lu Hearns. It was so off target it is quite possible there was a miscommunication with the receiver, who seemed to turn the other way. D1 Qbs are not that inaccurate unless he isn't on the same page with his receiver.

Anyway, It appeared the first one was the receiver's fault. The other three could be argued either way. Only the guys watching film in their QB room and WR room know what really happened, in my amateur opinion.

nvm

Big C said:

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Payton Thorne did hand us the game on a golden platter, which I greatly appreciate.

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The announcers did say that the Cal D rushed Thorne on a few of the picks and at least one was tipped by the Cal D. One other was a great grab. IMO that does not equal a gift by Thorne

(long)
I was at the game. Cal's defense got good pressure on Thorne forcing quick throws and multiple scrambles. As a runner, Thorne was pretty effective, As a passer, Thorne was very inaccurate and sometimes threw to areas where the only players were cal defenders. The Auburn QB had a bad game but his wide receivers are also terrible. They gave up on routes and I think they ran the wrong routes as there was constant miscommunication.

Cal's defense did a good job of stopping the run even though Auburn has a really good running back and many 4 star players on their O-line. The Auburn fans (and tbh) the Cal fans expected that Auburn would run on us at will and that Mendoza would be running for his life. i was hopin we would only lose by 10 to 14.

Mendoza had other ideas. In the first half he looked like the second coming of Jared Goff. Dare we believe in ressurecion or was Auburn just unmotivated, over-confident and poorly coached? Time will tell. as we face other opponents.

In the second half, Cal quit being aggessive in the passing game and resorted to runs up the middle. By this time, however, the time of possession was 2 to 1 in Cal's favor and the huge Auburn defenders were gassed. They were obviously out of shape. It was a cool day for south Alabama in early September (mid 80's and overcast.

Both spearing reviews were total BS in my opnion but Cal got the stick on one of them. The pick in the end zone nullified by non-existent PI was an eggregious error by the officials imho. The several Aubie fans, however, told me that they thought the refs gifted Cal the game. lol. I live in Huntsville and I'm a Bama fan as well as a Cal fan. The crowd at 'Bama games is way, way more knowledgeable. The intentional grounding call, for example, was obviously a correct call but the aubies were booing the refs and I got yelled at when i tried to explain the rule to a woman behind me. A 'bama crowd would have known that was the correct call.

I was at the game in Oxford and the New Years Day game in Orlando when we beat Clemson. The fans of Ol' Miss and Clemson were way more respectful. To be fair, quite a few aubies made a point of congratulating cal fans on the win but most were kind of sullen so we didn't do any public celebrating.

UC Davis is significant;ly better than Alabama A & M which is a TBC in Hunstville and is far from a powerhouse in their league. UC Davis has better players, is better coached and their is a natural rivalry because, let's face it, most students at UC Davis are there because ethey didn't get into Cal or UCLA.