The Auburn Tigers fell 31-13 to the Georgia Bulldogs to drop to 2-4 in what has been a very tough season thus far.
Head coach Hugh Freeze has been accused this season of throwing his quarterbacks under the bus — when in reality he has been pointing out the obvious — that the team cannot turn the ball over at the rate they had been and be able to win games.
While Payton Thorne avoided any turnovers in the loss to Georgia, there was a 4th quarter 4th and 1 play where there appeared to be some sort of miscommunication. Thorne pulled the ball from running back Jarquez Hunter and tried to carry it himself before being stopped for a loss.
After the game, Freeze essentially accused Thorne of not running the play that was called and that he opted to pull the ball completely on his own accord.
Thorne apparently saw it differently, telling the Next Round Live that he did not check out of any sort of play, but that he wasn’t going to get into it further saying it would not help the team to do so:
Auburn QB Payton Thorne said he “did not check any play” when asked our @NextRoundLive guys asked about what transpired on 4th & 1 in Athens.
— Taylor Korn (@TaylorKornTNR) October 8, 2024
“I won’t get too much into it, I could explain what happened but I don’t think that would help our team, so I’ll keep that one in house,” Thorne said. “I will say I did not check any play. We talked about it on the sideline and I said what I saw, and after the game the coaches watched the film and saw what I was saying. So we’ve handled it.”
Ultimately, there was clearly some sort of miscommunication on the play between coach and quarterback. With the bye week coming up, perhaps Thorne and Freeze can continue to get on the same page and try to improve as an offense.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
