Saturday was a microcosm of Thorne’s career at AU. He had actually played pretty well over the last 4 games, easily the most consistent play in his time here. But Saturday, we had to have a QB that could make a difference, and he couldn’t be that guy. Meal Row made throws and runs that kept drives alive, and finished drives. Thorne threw it to the wrong team, overthrew wide open receivers, and inexplicably threw a pass way out of bounds while going for it on 4th down, deep in Bama territory. Thankfully, that era is over.
Saturday was also a microcosm of Freeze’s time on the Planez. He continued with a game plan that gave a very limited QB little chance to be successful. I’m just a no-coaching-experience, peon fan, typing from my grandmother’s basement, but I will say it for the 2,483rd time. You HAVE to get the ball out of Thorne’s hand immediately to be successful. And yet, there he was, running for his life, play after play after play. And every time he took a snap and did not plant to throw, I said, “The play is over.” For some strange reason, our coach never grasped that concept.
Freeze will get another year to get this unsucked. He has to keep this signing class pretty much in-tact. He needs to hit the portal hard for a QB and hogs on both sides of the ball. I feel like the talent will be there next year, but I’m not too sure he doesn’t need to go back to doing the CEO thing, and let someone else handle the offense. I have to admit, I lost a good bit of faith in his ability there. But, as I’ve said, if he doesn’t get it done, they’ll go find someone else to give it a try.