Auburn‘s issues in the kicking game continued against Missouri, with a 30-yard missed field goal toward the end of the third quarter.

Towns McGough, Auburn’s true freshman kicker, is 5-for-10 on field goals this season, filling in for Alex McPherson, Auburn’s sophomore kicker who was a perfect 13-for-13 on field goals last season.

McPherson has yet to play this season while recovering from a gastrointestinal illness, but Freeze said that will change on shorter field goals.

“Should we have another opportunity within the 35-yard range we were going to give Alex that shot, he told me he felt like he could do that,” Freeze said during his Monday press conference.

McPherson hasn’t been listed as out on the availability report since Auburn played Arkansas in Week 4, but Freeze has mentioned a lack of strength keeping him off the field.

McGough’s early misses this season came on field goals of 50+ yards, but now has two misses from 30 yards or shorter. The other was a 27-yard miss at the end of the first half against Oklahoma.

“Again, we’re excited about Towns and his future and his talent, but we need to make those,” Freeze said. “Those are critical moments that keep our momentum up.”

Auburn’s next game will be a road matchup against Kentucky on Saturday, scheduled to kick off at 6:45 p.m. CT.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m