AUBURN | Hugh Freeze made the bold move to replace Payton Thorne with Hank Brown as Auburn’s starting quarterback two weeks ago.
It worked for one week and then Arkansas came to Jordan-Hare Stadium and forced Brown into three first-half interceptions and walked away with a 24-14 win.
Thorne came in for the second half and played better, but Freeze finds himself without any clear answers going into next Saturday’s game against No. 15 Oklahoma.
“I have no idea sitting here right now,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze on who would start against the Sooners. “But I'll go back to work tomorrow and I'll be as locked in as I've ever been to try and get it fixed.”
Brown was 7 of 13 for 72 yards. Two of his interceptions were thrown into double- or triple-coverage and a third when he overthrew an Auburn receiver.
“I'm big on our players knowing that they're not defined by performance as an individual,” said Freeze. “They're loved as individuals and cared for, but this is a performance-based business for me. And I get judged on that.
“They get judged on that and he did not play well in the first half and missed open guys and obviously threw the ball into coverage and we're in red zone again and double clutches one and kind of floats it over the middle.”
Thorne completed 13 of 22 passes for 213 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He had TD passes of 10 and 67 yards to KeAndre Lambert-Smith.
His interception bounced off the hands of receiver Cam Coleman.
“I thought Payton's was pretty solid,” said Freeze. He had one off of hand again that was picked, but it was the right read and I'll have to see how hard the catch was.”
The Tigers committed five turnovers against the Razorbacks to bring their total to 14 in four games, which ranks among the most nationally. Eight of those turnovers have been interceptions.
“Obviously we're not doing a very good job coaching quarterbacks right now,” said Freeze.
Auburn, which falls to 2-2 on the season, closes out a five-game homestand next Saturday against Oklahoma. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 or 3:15 p.m. CT.
