AUBURN — Auburn coach Hugh Freeze took the podium Monday morning after Auburn football’s idle week, turning the page to this week’s matchup against Missouri.

Freeze said it’s disappointing to be sitting at a 2-4 record and winless in the conference. Despite the Tigers not having a game last week, Freeze confirmed that the universities fall break helped the team regroup and have a great week of practice.

Missouri (5-1, 1-1) has won seven straight home games entering the matchup against Auburn. However, they have not defeated Auburn since 1973 trailing the all time series 1-3.

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“Excited about getting back into a game week. We had a much-needed off week last week, which was good for our physical bodies and our mental side,” Freeze said. “I thought the Tuesday practice, we attacked extremely well. Wednesday was energetic, as you can imagine, So it really fell at a good time for us.

“Our energy was great, the emphasis was on us — here are the things we’ve got to get better on. These short distances, critical downs on both sides, red zone, really what is our bread and butter. I think having fall break really helped it, because I think everybody needed a little break — coaches and players. Obviously, we did a little recruiting, also. But it was a good open week.”

In the Tigers last loss against Georgia, a controversial failed fourth down attempt raised questions from fans on what went wrong in that moment. Freeze said it was dive left to running back Jarquez Hunter. But, quarterback Payton Thorne said he had the option to throw, leading to getting stuffed behind the first-down marker.

With all the speculations on what happened during that game, Freeze addressed how the play was new and the offense did not fully understand it. He elaborated on his plans to grow from the confusion.

“I don’t read the media. I don’t listen. I don’t have social media anymore. I’m very transparent and will tell you exactly the truth of what happened,” Freeze said. “Payton thought he needed to change the alignment of the back to handle an edge guy. Some of that may have been based on him asking an offensive lineman. Again, we have to do a better job coaching. That shouldn’t have happened. It wasn’t a part of the process. If you go watch the film, if we leave our alignment like it’s supposed to be and we hand the ball off, Jarquez is running on a DB for an easy first down. I understand his thinking there, they just unfolded a linebacker on the backside, so obviously we didn’t coach it well enough for him to know he didn’t have to do that.”

Looking ahead to Missouri, Freeze is familiar with opposing head coach Eli Drinkwitz as they were both assistants for Gus Malzahn. With their history, he’s excited for the head-to-head matchup and for the Tigers' secondary to face off against Missouri’s explosive wide receivers.

“We talked twice this week already,” Freeze said. “Throughout the years, I don’t know where we started, truthfully, developing a friendship, but it came pretty naturally. We gravitate to one another in our lives, too, when we are at common places, whether it’s SEC meetings or whether it’s the Peach Bowl Classic.”

“They have veteran guys that have proven to be some of the best in this league, whether they’re going against the top-tiered corners and safeties or not. Due to some injuries, and then just our youth, it’s obviously going to be a great test for us. We’ve got to find a way to get them some help and eliminate the explosive plays, which is very difficult to do against them. Again, it’s part of the growing process of where we are currently. I’m sure our kids will be excited for the challenge.”

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Hugh Freeze discusses Idle week, turns page to Missouri