AUBURN | It’s been a frustrating stretch for anyone associated with Auburn football and that’s certainly the case at quarterback where the Tigers have rotated both Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford for most of the season.

Add the uncertainty of a quarterback rotation to a passing offense that currently ranks 124th in the country and the emotions can boil over on and off the field.

“It’s extremely frustrating, to be honest,” said Thorne, who started AU’s first six games. “It’s been tough. You’ve just got to keep showing up and keep working. I’m not going to be giving up this season or ever. But it’s been very frustrating.”

When losses pile on top of losses and the offense struggles for just one first down during long stretches of a game, it can get hard to break out of the funk.

“I think some of us are kind of pressing a little bit, trying to do too much, instead of just relaxing and playing ball like we know to do,” said Ashford, who mentioned his decision to hold onto a ball instead of handing off on the first play of the game.

“Sometimes you've got to take it back to when you were young and playing in the backyard. Just go out there, relax and have fun. I think some of us on offense, we've been too uptight. We know we just have to go out there and relax, do what we do.”

Thorne and Ashford have two distinct packages when each is in the game. Thorne’s is geared more toward throwing the ball and RPO’s while Ashford’s is focused more on running the ball and 12 and 13 personnel.

“Whether that’s smart or not, I don’t know. We’ve got to figure that out,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “We obviously think it is, or have thought it is. When they’re doing two different things, I don’t think that’s an issue.

“They’re really confident in what you do: 'Here’s your package, get really confident with that.' It’s not like we’re asking one to go do the whole game plan right now, because there are two distinctively different packages.”

Thorne said he’s never been part of a quarterback rotation and it’s been a challenge adjusting to it.

“I’ve never really seen anybody else do that either. So I don’t know if there’s anybody I can ask to learn from,” said Thorne. “Every time I’m in there, I’m trying to do what I’m supposed to do and do what I’m being coached to do and execute and make a play when we need it.

“You can’t get in there in a situation like that and try to do too much. I don’t feel like I’ve done that. So just keep going in there and executing the play that’s called. If it’s called to hand it off, hand it off. You can’t try to pull it and make something crazy happen.”

Thorne has the added stress of being a team captain and trying to set an example for his teammates. The junior transferred to Auburn this summer after starting 26 career games at Michigan State.

“I feel like being an older guy, I’ve had practice at that, honestly, being able to respond when things aren’t going great,” he said. “It’s not always going to be calm, though. Some guys think that you have to respond the right way and that’s just being level-headed at all times. There’s an element to that, for sure.

“But sometimes, enough’s enough and some guys need to hear it. So there’s an element of that too. It’s not always just, ‘Hey, nice play. Just this, this and this.’ At some point, enough’s enough and we’re either going to change it or we’re not. There’s part of that too.”

Auburn hosts Mississippi State at Jordan-Hare Stadium at for 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.