A dejected Hugh Freeze took to the podium after Auburn’s ugly 21-14 loss to Cal Saturday.

Speaking softly, his assessment of the game was simple.

“Disappointing,” Freeze said. “I thought, you know, would hope we were further along.”

After Auburn’s Week 1 dismantling of Alabama A&M, confidence was high within the team and amongst those following it.

The confidence wasn’t completely unwarranted either. How can one not be confident after beating a team by 70 points, even if that team is heavily overmatched?

Even Nick Saban predicted Auburn to “dominate” against Cal.

What happened on the field Saturday afternoon was far from that, in fact, it was closer to the other way around.

After Auburn scored a touchdown on its first drive, Cal took over and after an 8-play, 75-play drive where quarterback Fernando Mendoza was perfect. From there, the Golden Bears never lost control of the game.

Cal’s offense dominated time of possession in the first half, with Mendoza comfortably picking apart Auburn’s defense.

Defensively, Cal never let Auburn get comfortable after the first drive, forcing five turnovers and holding the Tigers to 286 yards of total offense.

Four of those turnovers were interceptions thrown by Payton Thorne. And while Freeze said he didn’t want to say much about Thorne’s performance until after he had watched film, he put some of the blame on the offensive line.

“We had guys running wide open and really struggled to protect,” Freeze said.

When interviewed by the ESPN broadcast crew going into the fourth quarter, Freeze said that they were “not protecting the quarterback at all.”

The offensive performance was a similar story to last season’s game at Cal. Auburn had four turnovers in that game, but on that occasion, 14 points was enough to win.

On Saturday it wasn’t. But more importantly, it was supposed to be better this time around.

The story of the offseason was how much the offense improved, but the performance was eerily similar to how Auburn played against Cal last season.

Fortunately for Auburn, it’s only Week 2. And while a loss to Cal at home when you’re a double-digit favorite is anything but positive, it’s a nonconference game that doesn’t affect how Auburn does in the SEC.

SEC play isn’t far away, though. Going from a confidence-building performance like the one in Week 1 to pure disappoint can easily discourage a team with so many young players.

“When you play D1 football, it’s going to be adversity,” senior safety and captain Jerrin Thompson said when asked what the message to young players is.

“We’ve got to learn how to deal with success and we’ve got to learn how to deal with failure,” said sophomore defensive end Keldric Faulk, who was arguably the best player in an Auburn jersey on Saturday.

If there is anything positive for Auburn to take from the game, it’s the defense. While Mendoza could do no wrong in the first half, Auburn dialed up the pressure in the second half, finally making him uncomfortable and disrupting Cal’s rhythm.

The defense kept the offense in the game through all of the turnovers and empty drives.

“We gave them a lot of chances,” BUCK linebacker Jalen McLeod said.

Auburn’s offense doesn’t have a choice but to get better. In two weeks, Arkansas comes to town, and while the Razorbacks just lost a thriller to Oklahoma State, they put up 648 yards of total offense and 31 points.

Auburn’s total offense against Cal was less than half of that and Saturday proved that the Tigers can’t just simply rely on defense.

“We gotta buckle up. We’re playing football. We gotta really hone in on our craft and not be messing off, playing around in practice,” McLeod said.

In addition to that statement, McLeod added that practice leading up the Cal game was “up and down.”

Maybe Auburn just fell flat in an early season game. It happens.

But with a loaded slate ahead, how Auburn responds to an extreme high followed by an extreme low could define the season.

“Thankfully this year, the season’s not over. It’s go-time now and time to respond,” Thorne said.

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