AUBURN | Hugh Freeze was done.

He was done with the quarterback rotation and done with multiple packages.

Auburn had lost four consecutive games, didn’t have a clear leader at quarterback and desperately needed some consistency on offense. It was time for the Tigers’ first-year head coach to step in and lay down the law to his offensive assistants.

“There wasn't really a conversation,” Freeze explained. “It was just 'This is what we're doing,' and that's it. This is what we're doing, and we'll figure out which one can either do it or not, and if none of them can, we'll just cross that bridge when we get there. And I think Payton (Thorne) loved it.

“And again, I thought Robby (Ashford) showed some good things in practice, too, but Payton … took the initiative and was playing well enough. And that discussion wasn't ugly, but you get to a point where the only thing that I know, is got to be what I'm comfortable with, and this is what I think we need to do.”

It turned out to be one of the best decisions Freeze has made this season. Thorne, playing 66 of 68 snaps, had his best outing of the year completing 20 of 26 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

“We did a lot of stuff that we talked about and that Coach Freeze is known for,” said Thorne. “We got some more RPO stuff. We played with tempo. We were able to push the ball down the field a couple times, too. I feel like those are things that suit my game.”

PFF gave Thorne an 89.6 offensive rating, his best at Auburn and the third best in his career, which included 26 starts at Michigan State.

“He was really confident in the plan and it showed,” said Freeze. “He probably left two throws out there that he probably should've thrown, in my opinion, he'll agree when he sees the film. He had two other RPOs that probably should've been thrown. I thought he left the pocket early a couple times but he did good things with it. He took care of the ball.

"Outside of those four plays it was hard to argue that he didn't play really, really, really solid. Had one ball that was a little high but we've got to catch those, too. I just thought he played really solid, really confidently and I thought our kids responded to that around him well.”

Auburn plays at Vanderbilt this Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.