Winners and losers from Auburn footall’s loss to California

Auburn fans felt a sense of confidence following the Tigers’ season-opening win over Alabama A&M. Auburn’s passing game showed signs of improvement and the defense displayed “brick wall” tendencies in the victory, making it appear as if the program’s struggles since 2020 were slowly dissipating.

However, the sense of dread returned to Auburn fans on Saturday following the Tigers’ 21-14 loss to California at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn’s offense committed five turnovers while the Tigers’ secondary allowed 233 passing yards. Auburn fans believed their favorite team had progressed further than what Saturday’s performance showed. They are not alone; head coach Hugh Freeze shares the sentiments.

“Disappointed. I hoped we were further along. I knew this would be a good test for us no matter what people said,” Freeze said postgame. “They are a very senior-laden football team, played extremely hard and are well-coached. Their quarterback played lights out in the first half. The positive I guess if we could take anything from it is that our defense, I thought, really, really improved as the game went on. In the second half, they gave us chances. Their special teams played really well in the third quarter and kept us pinned. But you cannot turn the ball over five times and expect to beat really anybody. We never got in any kind of sync offensively and that’s very disappointing and frustrating to me, and I’ve got to figure that out for us.”

There were several positive takeaways from the game and glaring negatives. Here are the winners and losers from Auburn’s loss to California on Saturday.