Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was clear about wanting to see more from his offensive line ahead of the Tigers' matchup against South Alabama. 

Freeze challenged the offensive line to step it up, and he was pleased with what the group showed in response.

"I thought the pocket was clean most of the night," Freeze said. "He had plenty of time to go through his progressions. I thought we strained better. We actually worked hard on that last week in practice, making the play go longer than normal and making us strain an extra second. We certainly will need to strain to find a way to protect."

Auburn offensive lineman Mason Murphy thought the group did a significantly better job of protecting quarterback Jackson Arnold against South Alabama than it did the week prior.

"I just think we went out there with the mindset of using our technique consistently," Murphy said. "That's really what pass protection boils down to, how consistent can you be with your technique? So I think we just went out there and had a dominant mentality that we weren't going to let anybody touch (No.) 11."

Additionally, the Tigers had more luck moving the ball on the ground, something that is music to the ears of Murphy and company.

"I love running the ball," Murphy said. "That's going to win us a lot of football games: our ability to run the ball really well. That's our mindset coming into this game like any other game."

While he does believe the group moved in the right direction between Weeks 2 and 3, Freeze understands that more progress will need to be made in order for the Tigers to be in the best possible position to succeed against No. 11 Oklahoma on Saturday.

"This team has harassed the quarterback extremely well in their first three games," Freeze said. "They have tremendous pass rushers off the edge. Big, physical guys in the middle. Very good at disguising their pressures. This, again, will be a better test than what we've had."

Kickoff between the Tigers and Sooners is set for 2:23 p.m. CT and ABC will carry the broadcast.