Everything seemed to be moving in the right direction again for Auburn.
It made the change at quarterback that many fans asked for. Even better, the new starter, redshirt freshman Hank Brown, looked the part in his first start, throwing four touchdowns against New Mexico.
Saturday’s loss to Arkansas erased every bit of progress made in that game.
It felt like a replay of the Cal game when Brown threw three interceptions in the first half. Unlike the Cal game, a change came sooner, with Payton Thorne reclaiming the starting spot to begin the second half.
“We’re not doing a very good job coaching quarterbacks right now,” Hugh Freeze said after the game.
Freeze’s words spoke accurately of the start to this season, and more broadly on his tenure so far at Auburn.
Auburn has yet to have good quarterback play against Power 4 teams over the last two seasons. It made changes at wide receiver, and the improvement there was no more evident than in Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert-Smith’s 156-yard and two-touchdown performance.
But those throws to Lambert-Smith and others only mean so much when Auburn’s quarterbacks are constantly throwing the ball to the other team.
Brown and Thorne combined for four interceptions. While Thorne’s was hardly his fault and he had the better day, neither quarterback looked like the solution Auburn fans were looking for during the offseason.
“We’ve got to find a guy that won’t throw it to the other team,” Freeze said.
When asked what the outlook of the position looks like going into the next week, Freeze didn’t have an answer. That’s not surprising coming directly after the game, but there’s also no clear answer.
Five years into his college career, Thorne may have already hit his ceiling, a ceiling that was low enough for Freeze to bench him in the first place.
As a redshirt freshman, Brown has a much longer future, but will a three-interception performance in his first conference game cause Freeze to lose trust in him?
It’s impossible to say immediately after the game. Thorne has the experience edge when it comes to working through a rough start, and he admitted that spending time as the backup was an adjustment for him.
“That was the first time I’d run with the twos since 2020,” Thorne said after the game. “It was a new experience, a new viewpoint of things. And now I believe that everything happens for a reason. And if you take the right mindset with it, there’s always something to learn.”
It won’t get any easier for Auburn either as it tries to navigate Southeastern Conference play without a clear answer at quarterback. Next up is Oklahoma, followed by a date with Georgia in Athens before the bye week.
With a schedule like that, there isn’t much time for a quarterback controversy. The sooner Auburn can figure out how to get production from its quarterback, the sooner it will have chance to be competitive at all in the SEC.
“There’s signs that we can do some good things. But we cannot play as inconsistent as we are,” Freeze said. “That’s getting really frustrating and old. I’m sure it is to a lot of people.”
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
