Chizik: Auburn standing by QB Kiehl Frazier

Monday, September 17, 2012
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By JOHN ZENOR AP Sports Writer AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Auburn is standing by a struggling Kiehl Frazier as the starting quarterback. Tigers coach Gene Chizik said Sunday that Frazier would remain the starter Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe after struggling throughout a 28-10 loss at Mississippi State.

Chizik stuck with Frazier in that game instead of turning to backup Clint Moseley. Frazer had minus-2 yards passing at halftime and three completions for 18 yards through three quarters. He was intercepted three times and lost two fumbles. "He's got to play through tough times," Chizik said. "That's part of a young guy's journey. That doesn't mean down the road if we think that that's something that we need to consider, we will. (Saturday) night, he had to get through a tough time. He's our quarterback. There's going to be some growing pains that go along with that for him, and he certainly went through them yesterday. "What a difference a whole week makes. Against Clemson, we saw some bright spots. We expect to get back to those bright spots. There'll be a lot of learning from this game film and the situations that happened in the game. He's got to grow up and improve from what we learned this week." Frazier had some success later in the game and finished 13-of-22 passing for 125 yards. He was a harsh critic of his own performance. "Me personally, I think I had a mistake on probably 75 percent of the plays, so we've just got to come back and fix that," he said. "I wouldn't say it was surprising, because it was our first SEC road game. We definitely expect to play a lot better. We didn't play as well as we wanted to but the sky's not falling on me." He said one problem was he got caught up in watching Mississippi State's pass rush. "This week is the first time I've ever done that," he said. The Tigers rank 108th nationally in total yards and 107th in passing. Chizik said there's plenty of blame to go around, from pass protection to receivers not running routes correctly. "I'm not pinning that on one guy," he said. "Obviously he's got to protect the football better. We know that. We recognize that. We can't win any games turning the ball over five times. That's very obvious to us. The thing for Kiehl and our whole offense is we have to improve immediately." Tight end Phillip Lutzenkirchen said Frazier is handling the heat well and has the team's support. "He's good. He's young, so I'm sure it's affecting him a little bit but we're rallying around him," Lutzenkirchen said. "He knows that we're behind him 100 percent. He's got to take the hits and learn from them. " Moseley started six games last season but threw for just five touchdowns and had each of his three interceptions returned for scores.

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Chizik: Auburn standing by QB Kiehl Frazier

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