Analyzing the Auburn quarterback situation after Week 2 setback vs. Cal

Auburn suffered a brutal upset loss this weekend at home against Cal, falling to the Golden Bears 21-14 in a matchup where Tigers’ starting quarterback Payton Thorne threw four interceptions. Putting head coach Hugh Freeze in a dilemma at the most important position early in his second season with the program.

Freeze opened up about his quarterback situation and harped on the fact that Thorne has been the team’s most reliable player throughout the offseason and at practice despite his recent disappointing performance in Saturday’s game. A situation that On3’s Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman recently discussed.

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!

“You can sense the frustration in Hugh Freeze and I understand why coaches feel this way,” Staples said. “Because this has got to be hard, we see that the team on Saturdays, the product on Saturdays, and we’re like the results are all that matter. But these guys are in it every day and so if somebody five days a week does all the right things, it’s very hard to say you’re not that guy on Saturday.”

Thorne appeared in all 13 games for Auburn last season with 12 starts, throwing for 1,755 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions as the Tigers finished 6-7. Boasting 39 total starts in his career and making the idea of giving his backup quarterback Hank Brown a shot at running Auburn’s offense a tough call to make.

Watch College Football Games Live -Try for Free Fubo! Click HERE NOW

“And the thing that’s hard Andy is that you can’t discover who’s a gamer without putting him in the game,” Wasserman said. “So the Payton Thorne scenario here is Hank Brown’s the backup, right? So we’re talking about a three-star prospect who’s been in the program for one year. Like that could be great, or that could be we need three more years of development before he’s ready to go.”

Following four seasons at Michigan State, Thorne transferred to Auburn ahead of Freeze’s first season with the program. An avenue Freeze could have potentially revisited this offseason but instead chose to stick with Thorne.

“Why is Auburn in the position that it’s in to begin with?” Wasserman asked. “That’s the whole thing. I do think that a lot of times we get bogged down, not bogged down, but we find ourselves in conversations during the year about how could we be in this position. But we also have to analyze that Hugh Freeze came to Auburn as the master corrector of their ails, which was getting good players.”

“Hugh Freeze was very clear on this in the offseason, I believe his last offseason too, he did not want to pay seven figures out of the portal for a quarterback,” Staples added. “I understand where he’s coming from on this, because that also brings in a set of expectations, a set of circumstances.”

Freeze is regarded as an offensive mastermind who’s seen plenty of offensive success in his career, particularly with quarterbacks. But following Saturday’s loss, many are curious if he’ll go back to the drawing board at the position this season and maybe even beyond this offseason depending on how the rest of the year plays out for Auburn.

“He brought up the point that the most important early guy he brought in at Ole Miss was Bo Wallace … Because it allowed him to run the offense the way he wanted to run it,” Staples said recalling a previous conversation with Freeze. “And I think we can go out on a limb and say he still hasn’t found his Bo Wallace at Auburn yet.”

“That’s the biggest issue right now, is they can’t run the offense the way he wants to run it and we’ve seen it run effectively everywhere else he’s been. So could Hank Brown be that guy? He’s watched a lot of practices and determined that maybe he’s not, but I think he’s gonna have to give him a chance.”