Auburn did plenty of good things against Oklahoma. The defense was good, the offense moved the ball and Payton Thorne had one of his best games in an Auburn jersey.
After a 27-21 loss, though, Thorne wasn’t too interested in talking about the positives.
“After a while you get tired of silver linings,” Thorne said. “You get tired of it after a while, it’s time to win and we weren’t able to do that today.”
Thorne’s 338 passing yards were the most he’d had since the 2021 Fiesta Bowl when he was the quarterback of Michigan State and Bryan Harsin was finishing his first season as Auburn’s head coach.
For three quarters, it was the best performance of his Auburn career, but most people will only remember the pick-six he threw that gave Oklahoma the lead late in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we played well enough to win today for the most part,” Thorne said after the game. “Unfortunate way to end.”
When asked about his message to the team in the locker room, Thorne said he had nothing to say, adding that the players didn’t “want to hear it necessarily this soon.”
Senior tight end and captain Luke Deal felt similar about handling emotions immediately after a loss like that.
“Honestly, usually I take a day,” Deal said when asked about dealing with hard losses. “It should mean something to you when you lose like this, a game that you should win, a game that you prepare for so hard. Your guys fight so hard, you should be hurting after this one. After one day, it’s time to flip it and that’s what some of these young guys need to understand.”
For Auburn BUCK linebacker Jalen McLeod, the message he described was simple.
“We gotta find a way to win. That’s it,” McLeod said.
Early in the fourth quarter, it looked like McLeod might’ve made the game-sealing play.
A relatively lifeless Oklahoma offense elected to go for it on fourth-and-10, but McLeod put a firm stop to the attempt, sacking quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.
“It hurts, because you’re out there fighting with your brothers,” defensive end Keldric Faulk said reflecting on the game. “Just to have that game flip on you that fast really just takes a toll on you; on the team, really.”
Auburn now leaves a five-game homestand that it hoped to leave undefeated 2-3 and limping into three straight road games against Georgia, Missouri and Kentucky.
“How we pick up the momentum is [Georgia] put us as their homecoming. So that’s enough motivation as it is,” Faulk said. “We’ve got to create our own momentum throughout the week, and then come Saturday, they’re going to get everything we’ve got.”
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
