Before the stadium had begun to empty, with the result of the game still in the air, Auburn lined up quarterback Holden Geriner for his first meaningful snap of any kind this season and tucked him behind tight end Brandon Frazier. There were just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and the score still tied at 14. The plan was a double pass, with the ball tossed backward to Geriner and he would find an open receiver deep downfield.

Except he only had one blocker, who was shoved out of the way immediately and Geriner was sacked on the trick play.

It set up third-and-19 still on the Ole Miss half of the field. Auburn ran up the middle with Jarquez Hunter and gained four yards. Punter Oscar Chapman ran on the field.

And it was in this moment that all the optimism that has characterized Auburn’s season thus far drowned into boos. The hope of Auburn fans had been exhausted. It appeared as a rock bottom.

It was the first time Auburn’s inept offense had been booed this season.

In that moment, the Hugh Freeze honeymoon ended. The opponent, his former employer, made it all that more fitting.

Auburn had chances to win what ended as a 28-21 loss to No. 13 Ole Miss. The defense played a heroic effort against a far superior Ole Miss offense — keeping Ole Miss without points for the entire second quarter and for every second until the very last one of the third quarter.

During that time, Auburn’s offense had eight drives. Five of them ended in three-and-outs. Six ended in punts. One drive was just a singular play where quarterback Robby Ashford threw an interception. And the remaining drive was a four-play, 24-yard touchdown drive set up by a 43-yard Donovan Kaufman interception return.

After the ice had been thawed on the boos for the first time, they continued for every short gain — every inability to move the ball — for the rest of the game.

And for as loud as the boos were raining down on them — loud enough to be clearly heard in an Auburn press box known for blocking out noise — players said they didn’t notice the anger.

“I didn’t realize that,” tight end Rivaldo Fairweather said of the boos. “We’ve just got to go out there, execute and be great as an offense. And we will. We’re going to go back to the drawing table like I said and come back better.”

As officials reviewed and upheld a Thorne interception in the endzone, thousands of fans didn’t bother to wait for the call. They turned out of their seats and walked to the exit. Auburn’s student section is reliable to remain in their bleachers to the very end of the game, win or lose. But with two minutes to go, the result certainly in hand, rows and rows of silver bleachers were empty as the students made their way back toward the bars.

There were no boos when the game ended. At that point, the stadium was largely empty. Any boos would have been drowned out by the cheering Ole Miss fans in the northeast corner, anyway.

Yet when the game ended and Hugh Freeze made his way over to his press conference, his remarks on this team were much of the same as what he’s said after each of Auburn’s growing number of bad offensive performances.

He took the blame on himself again. He said he thought both quarterbacks had a good package again. He questioned his game plan again. He said the margin between Auburn winning and losing is so small again.

Asked why the mistakes repeating mistakes, Freeze’s answer was short, but indicative of the issues.

“I can’t answer the exact why,” Freeze said. “A combination.”

Before tonight, optimism was abound for a new coach with SEC experience — despite a checkered history. There was hope for the immediate recruiting success in the 2024 class — wins that remain on the register. There was hope because Freeze had won in the SEC before.

Hope isn’t eternal.

On this night, instead of granting Freeze with the patience that had been present, the fans met him with boos.

Boos are hard to come back from. Public opinion is fickle. It can turn sour in a moment and it isn’t easy to turn back.

That mood is bad right now. There is frustration from the fan base. Auburn’s offense is on pace to be historically bad.

Auburn has barely averaged more than 100 passing yards against SEC opponents. It’s the worst rate for Auburn this century.

And for all Hugh Freeze has talked about the talent gap Auburn has and the recruiting that still lies in the future, these repetitive failures of offense come down to coaching. Auburn made the same mistakes of alignment, protection, route running and simply poor quarterback play after a bye week where it planned to fix it.

The talent gap doesn’t cause Auburn to have 12 men in the huddle for a third down in the fourth quarter. Auburn was penalized twice for illegal substitutions. That’s coaching. And the fans noticed it.

Auburn’s passing offense was already ranked among the 10 worst in the nation before another bad day Saturday. Auburn had 122 total passing yards but 47 of them came on a dump-off pass to running back Jarquez Hunter later in the fourth quarter.

The fans made their voice heard, and it poses the question of what to do next with offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery.

These are the types of games a coach gets fired for. Montgomery’s contract, which has a total value of $3.45 million, has a 100% buyout.

Yet he is in a position that will be hard to recover. He works from the coaches’ box, nestled in the midst of all the boos.

Many of them were directed at him, too.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]