Payton Thorne had easily his best game in an Auburn uniform this past Saturday against Alabama A&M, throwing for 322 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for another score in just one half.

That doesn't mean there aren't things he can get cleaned up. And his head coach, Hugh Freeze, was right there to tell him about it on the sidelines.

"I was really only upset the one time," Freeze said. "I was frustrated a few others -- he still made good throws and touchdowns. But he didn't get himself protected like he's supposed to. I don't want him taking unnecessary hits."

The play he is referring to was a 4-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the first quarter. A Bulldog defender came for Thorne from his blind side, but the Auburn quarterback hadn't set up his protection correctly. While he did get the throw off to a wide-open Lambert-Smith, the defender came close to putting a big hit on Thorne. It's all part of the quarterback being able to call the correct protection as the field general.

"I've made it clear I believe in him," Freeze said. "With that, though, comes the expectation that if we've thoroughly discussed something, the expectation is that you get that right."

The coach lit into the quarterback only because he knows Thorne can handle the hard coaching. It's also a show of respect that Thorne can be the leader of Auburn's offense and the coach on the field.

"I expect him to get those right, and I think that's a positive he should take is, if I didn't believe he should get those right, I wouldn't be quite as upset," Freeze said. "I expect him to get that right 95% of the time on certain things that I was upset with him the other night."

The moment was aired live on television, and a particular member of the Freeze family got on the coach about his anger.

"I wish the camera wasn't on me all the time," Freeze said. "My wife got on me about one of those, but it was a third-down play that I know how critical those downs are in coming weeks."

As for Thorne, he was happy with his performance, putting up more than 300 passing yards for the first time as a Tiger and the first since September 17, 2022, against Washington when playing for Michigan State.

"That's nice to be able to do that and get back over that number," the quarterback said. "You don't want to get too caught up in stats, but looking at how we played, connecting on those shots downfield was good and getting in that rhythm is something that we want to carry over week to week and something that we want to be a big part of our offense."