Auburn suffers brutal loss at home

The Auburn Tigers suffered a brutal loss on Saturday afternoon against the California Golden Bears by a score of 21-14.

It was an absolutely dreadful performance from Payton Thorne, who finished with a completion percentage barely over 50 percent, less than 200 yards passing, and most importantly, four interceptions.

Next up: Payton Thorne once again DOESNT look anywhere except his first option. Stares down his receiver the whole way and throws a duck pic.twitter.com/gv6dfYTAyk

— Cole Viscome (@FreezeWAUrning) September 8, 2024

Neither team moved the ball incredibly, with Cal rushing for 101 yards as a team and a total of 334 yards compared to 286 for Auburn. Turnovers were the story of the game for the Tigers as they could not establish any sort of consistent momentum on offense while turning the ball over five times.

No Tiger had more than two receptions and Penn State transfer wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith caught Thorne’s only touchdown pass on Auburn’s first drive of the game for 15 yards:

Watch Payton Thorne’s touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for Auburn’s first touchdown against Calpic.twitter.com/YIRJYWx07L

— Auburn Gold Mine (@AUGoldMine) September 7, 2024

Trailing 21-7 late, Auburn tacked on a score to give themselves a chance via a short Thorne run and had a chance to get the ball back with over two minutes left in the game trailing by one score, but it was another Thorne interception that ultimately ended things:

NOHL!! WILLIAMS!!

Second INT of the day for @NohlWilliams#GoBears | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/krupspm2Yt

— Cal Football (@CalFootball) September 7, 2024

“Disappointed,” Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game. “I hoped we were further along…you cannot turn the ball over five times and expect to beat really anybody. We never got in any kind of sync offensively and that’s very disappointing and frustrating to me, and I’ve got to figure that out for us.”

Auburn has to regroup quickly with an opportunity to get right against New Mexico next week at home before Arkansas comes to Jordan-Hare to begin SEC play the following week.