AUBURN | It was a dismal performance for Auburn’s quarterbacks in a 27-10 loss at Texas A&M.

But Freeze sees it more as a breakdown in the entire passing operation, and the Tigers’ first-year head coach aims to fix that this week.

“It’s a plethora of responsibilities, but ultimately it lands in my lap and the lap of the offensive coaches to make sure the routes are run at the correct depth with the correct releases against the correct coverage,” said Freeze. “And then, obviously, the protection has to be good, which is very hard to do in 3rd-and-long situations against a talented defensive front that you see in this league.

“And there were some times when the ball should of come out and it didn’t. So I think the responsibility lies in a lot of different places.”

Auburn’s three quarterbacks combined to complete 9 of 23 passes for just 56 yards against the Aggies. They were sacked seven times.

Payton Thorne, the starter, was 6 of 12 for 44 yards, Robby Ashford 1 of 4 for four yards and Holden Geriner 2 of 7 for eight yards.

It’s hard to pull a lot of positives from that lack of production, but Freeze saw the potential for much more.

“It’s just like when Robby came in, I thought he made two really nice throws on two deep balls. And I thought the routes were not run correctly,” he said. “On the routes that were designed, either we didn't have enough time or we missed.

“We had a wheel route, that is probably a touchdown and we overthrew it and had a seam route running wide open, missed that. We've gotta make those plays when we have them. But a lot of those designs were pretty good and we either have to coach it better or we've gotta execute it better. It's a combination.”

Freeze said Thorne will “probably” remain the starting quarterback this week as Auburn prepares to host No. 1 Georgia in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry.

“It's not all Payton, but sometimes it is and he owns it,” said Freeze. “We had a good meeting last night and so we just gotta try this week to get a plan in place that all execute and all understand. And that falls on Phillip (Montgomery) and his staff and ultimately on me.

“Whoever the quarterback is, I feel like we have let them down because of all the other components that go into the passing game. That is where I’m determined to try and help get fixed this week before you give some final grade on a quarterback’s play.”

Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on CBS.