Despite struggling all day, Payton Thorne had a chance to come through in the clutch. Auburn's defense had given the Tigers' offense the ball back with 2:40 to go and down 21-14 to Cal. If Thorne was going to win back the support of the Auburn faithful, this was his time.

It only took two plays for Thorne to throw a game-sealing interception that was so underthrown you saw the pick coming from a mile away.

It was a microcosm of the day in which the Tigers couldn't get out of their own way on the offensive side of the ball, stopping any momentum from gaining steam with penalties, pass protection that was a revolving door and turnovers that were almost laughable if they weren't so sad.

After struggling in the first half against Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the defense stepped it up in the second, continually saving the offense and Auburn from falling behind even further. When Cal scored with 11:27 to go, it made it a two-score game, but judging by the state of Auburn's offense, it might as well have been a five-score game.

Thorne's stat line ended up as bad as you would think, finishing 14-of-27 for 165 yards, a touchdown and four killer interceptions, each one worse than the last. If he wasn't getting sacked within seconds of receiving the snap, he was missing open receivers and throwing balls straight to Cal defenders.

Even after the third interception, there was a slight chance that Auburn could pull off a miracle after getting the ball back with less than 30 seconds left. Nope. Not today. Thorne tossed one right to Lu-Magia Hearns III with no Auburn receiver in sight.

It wasn't all on Thorne. Auburn's offensive line gave the quarterback no time. Receivers ran some wrong routes. But at the end of the day, it falls on Thorne to recover from that and go on to the next play.

The same question marks heading into the season remain, and while Hugh Freeze won't panic and make a total removal of Thorne from his starting position, there is a feeling that there will be new competition for that spot starting this week. The Auburn head coach said he wanted to watch the film before commenting too much on Thorne and the offense's play, so we will know more on Monday.

But there will be pressure if Thorne struggles this week in practice, or more, in the first half against the Lobos, for a change to be made for the time being. Hank Brown is the obvious choice if Freeze and his staff pull the plug on Thorne for a bit. He's poised in the pocket and throws a good deep ball. But he can't do it all alone, just as Thorne can't. Protection must be better, as does communication in every aspect.

Auburn came into Saturday's game set on Thorne as the starter at quarterback. The Tigers left with a big question mark.