Lack of execution and missed opportunities have become two terms synonymous with Auburn football this season.

The Tigers’ lack of execution at critical moments against Cal, Arkansas and Oklahoma likely cost them those games. Against Georgia, Auburn had to be nearly perfect to win and it fell short of that mark.

The most talked-about example from the Georgia loss was a fourth-and-one play where there was a clear miscommunication, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Payton Thorne pulled a handoff from Jarquez Hunter, electing to run himself before getting stopped. Hugh Freeze said after the game that Thorne “absolutely didn’t go with what we had called” on the play, adding that the call was a designed run for Hunter.

Thorne claimed the following week that he didn’t check out of any play and Freeze took responsibility for the situation on Monday.

“If you go watch the film, if we leave our alignment like it’s supposed to be and hand the ball off, Jarquez is running on a DB for an easy first down,” Freeze said. “I understand his thinking there. They just unfolded a linebacker on the backside. So, obviously, we did not coach it well enough for him to know that he didn’t have to do that.”

Going forward, Freeze said in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t expect those mistakes to happen anymore.

“If we have a critical down, it will be very, very, very, very disheartening and infuriating if another situation happens on a fourth-and-one or a third-and-one where our kids don’t have a clear understanding of what should happen,” Freeze said.

The bye week gave Auburn more time to work on those plays and develop a clear understanding of what to do on third and fourth downs.

“We have most of the game plan in because we started last week,” Freeze said. “So now it’s — are we really, really sure, from everybody in this room, that you feel really, really good about your kids executing this against all these different looks we may or may not see on this given play, particularly on these critical down calls.”

Missouri is the next team up for Auburn after the bye week. Auburn will travel to Columbia for its matchup on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m.

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