Auburn still can’t stay out of its own way.
It had its second five-turnover game of the season, this time resulting in a 24-14 loss to Arkansas to start Southeastern Conference play 0-1.
Not even a change at quarterback could alleviate the ball security issues that plagued Auburn in its Week 2 loss. Hank Brown got the start against Arkansas with relatively high hopes after throwing for 235 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions in his first start against New Mexico.
That hope quickly fizzled out, though, when Brown through a ball into tight coverage on the first drive that was tipped and intercepted.
The worst part? Auburn was moving the ball well and looked well on its way towards making a statement and scoring seven to start the game.
That obviously didn’t happen, and it only snowballed from there. Brown threw two more first-half interceptions and a Damari Alston fumble near the goal line brought Auburn’s turnover tally to four before halftime.
“I don’t have the words. It is just sickening,” Hugh Freeze said after the game. “Sickening that we can’t take care of the football on the offense.”
Thorne had an imperfect, but better performance than the redshirt freshman, only throwing one interception.
That turnover came on a pass over the middle that came off the hands of wide receiver Cam Coleman and into the hands of Arkansas defensive back TJ Metcalf.
With a dropped-pass interception, multiple poor read interceptions and a careless goal line fumble, Auburn turned the ball over in almost every way imaginable.
“The possession time in the first half when you’re doing that is atrocious. It’s miserable to watch that,” Freeze said.
With all the different ways Auburn turned it over on Saturday and throughout the season so far, it’s hard to point towards one easy fix.
When asked how Auburn can fix these problems, Freeze sounded lost.
“Unfortunately, this is what I know, and I know that there’s people open and I know that we’re running the football,” he said. “We’ve got to find a guy that won’t throw it to the other team. We’ve got to find running backs that hold onto it.”
It’s not the most in-depth analysis of what needs to change, but it’s not inaccurate either. Auburn badly needs to find an answer at quarterback, and with two different quarterbacks having been benched due to turnovers, that answer is more unclear than ever.
The fumbles seem more fixable. Alston’s fumble near the goal line came as he was making a cut and left the ball too exposed. That’s a fix that can likely come with ball security drills in practice.
Something certainly needs to change, though. Auburn finishes its opening four-game stretch 2-2, and still has games against Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri and Alabama remaining.
It’s highly unlikely that the Tigers will be favored in any of those four games, and its other three SEC games against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M aren’t cupcakes either.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
