CBS article: Thorne in Auburn's side

[bishoptf 767]

 I think CBS article sums it up the best for many of us. There were lots of threads last year discussing Hugh Freeze reluctance to go after a QB in the portal. IMHO it really makes one think that Freeze is lost at this job, supposedly a offensive guru but doesnt have the ability to see that he needed to upgrade at one of the most important positions. Here's the other thing, I feel bad for Thorne, he struggled last year and now is struggling again with even more pressure on him, really he should not have been our starting QB this year, not sure if Freeze has still come to that conclusion, guess we will see.

Thorne in Auburn's side: Hugh Freeze's reluctance to be aggressive at QB is halting Tigers' progression

Payton Thorne's four interceptions in a loss to Cal proves QB play remains a big issue

 

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said he just couldn't bring himself to spend big money on a transfer portal quarterback this offseason.

After watching Payton Thorne throw four interceptions in a 21-14 loss to Cal inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, maybe he should have!

Rather than upgrade a position that clearly held Auburn back during Freeze's 6-7 first season on the Plains, Freeze, citing an alleged $1 million cost to adding a transfer QB, preferred to surround Thorne with a better supporting cast in the (misguided) belief it'd elevate his play. That meant going all-in at the receiver position, landing Penn State transfer Keandre Lambert-Smith, five-star Cam Coleman and top 40 receiver recruit Perry Thompson to give Thorne plenty of weapons to work with this season.

It all looked great in an easy 73-3 Week 1 win over Alabama A&M. Thorne threw for 322 yards and four touchdowns, the new receivers all looked great and there was lots of positivity rolling into Week 2. 

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Even Nick Saban, long a tormentor of the Tigers while guiding in-state rival Alabama, had plenty of praise Saturday on "College GameDay" ahead of the game. Saban predicted Auburn, a 13.5-point favorite, would dominate Cal at home Saturday afternoon. His colleague, Kirk Herbstreit, was similarly bullish on Auburn, predicting they'd have a great year with an improved Thorne. 

"I think (Auburn coach) Hugh Freeze is going to do an outstanding job," Saban said. "I think they are going to be one of the most improved teams in the SEC."

Saban botched the game prediction -- see, Nick, the media prediction game isn't as easy as it looks -- but smartly pointed out that "the big thing here at Auburn is Payton Thorne, who last year probably didn't have a lot of confidence in his receivers."

This year, it feels only a matter of time before that situation is reversed. It was obvious Saturday that Throne is holding Auburn's offense back this season. A porous Auburn offensive line that led to three sacks didn't help the situation, but Throne's decision-making and accuracy continue to be major hindrances. Even beyond how awful the interceptions were, Thorne had far too many moments like missing a wide-open Lambert-Smith on what could have been a touchdown throw or botching a snap that led to a 10-second runoff and loss of downs late in the first half when the Tigers were trying to add a quick score. 

Thorne, who deserves credit for being a tough, hard-nosed quarterback, is great at beating up on overmatched FCS opponents. But in his 15 Auburn games against FBS teams, he averages a pitiful 126 passing yards per game and has thrown a total of 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. 

Before the season, Freeze fell back on Thorne's time at Michigan State to explain his confidence in him. Freeze believed with him taking back over play-calling duties plus better receiving talent, the Thorne in Auburn would more closely resemble the one who guided Michigan State to an 11-2 record in 2021. 

read the rest here:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/thorne-in-auburns-side-hugh-freezes-reluctance-to-be-aggressive-at-qb-is-halting-tigers-progression/

[naildawg 88]

Great article. Thorne is absolutely not the answer at quarterback. Yesterday was a regression to last year. Offensive line play was bad on pass protection and so immediately Thorne began to panic and make bad decisions. He has no poise under pressure. Compare him to the kid from Cal. He was under pressure also and looked like Tom Brady. Wait until we play Vandy with the kid from New Mexico State, Diego Pavia. That might get ugly.

[Win4AU 4,201]

Thorne doesn’t have it between the ears and that can’t be fixed.  It was clear by middle of the 3rd he was rattled.  Couldn’t hit slants, kept wanting to throw 50/50 home run balls to Cam.  

Edited September 8 by Win4AU

[Gowebb11 9,944]

O line was not that bad. With the WRs we have we should be able to dink and dunk our way down field on quick passes. It’s Freeze’s job to scheme and adjust to what the defense is doing. He didn’t. And it’s Thorne’s job to be accurate and make quick reads. He can’t. 

Edited September 8 by Gowebb11

[NWALA Tiger 3,695]

He doesn't exude confidence.  Players sense that. They won't follow that. He just doesn't look like he fits in. I don't get Hughs refusal to move on from Thorne. Is Hank that much worse

[maryland tiger 646]

Hugh = Gus 2.0

[EastTNTiger 11]

Oline pass blocking was horrendous. Lack of use of 12/13 packages for extra

off edge blocking, short pass route, emergency dumps would have helped. 

12/13 "don't have to be TE's per say... wink wink." Slip some of those youngsters

in there. Defense played well enough to win. 21 points in today's world Good.

 

[Auburn93 808]

1 hour ago, maryland tiger said:

Hugh = Gus 2.0

NO HE ISNT. Gus would have run the ball almost every play and then thrown a screen. Freeze wants a modern day down the field passing attack. 

GUS COULDNT RECRUIT. Hugh can. 

 

Edited September 8 by Auburn93

[GTNupe11 2,114]

1 hour ago, maryland tiger said:

Hugh = Gus 2.0

The worst of Gus. Not even the best. 😵‍💫

[AUx 3,213]

Thorne's eyes. Never look excited, determined, or scared. More like bank teller than QB regardless of situation. I feel sorry for the guy while wanting the team to perform better. I don't know what's going on, but seems contradictory to the role and situations.

[Auburn93 808]

1 minute ago, GTNupe11 said:

The worst of Gus. Not even the best. 😵‍💫

How is that? How well did Gus recruit? How can you compare when Gus was here multiple seasons? 

Listen, YOUR team lost to a better team. 

[GTNupe11 2,114]

1 minute ago, Auburn93 said:

How is that? How well did Gus recruit? How can you compare when Gus was here multiple seasons? 

Listen, YOUR team lost to a better team. 

Gus recruited well, actually -- until maybe the end. I'm talking about on the field play. Try again. 

Edited September 8 by GTNupe11

[Auburn93 808]

1 minute ago, AUx said:

Thorne's eyes. Never look excited, determined, or scared. More like bank teller than QB regardless of situation. I feel sorry for the guy while wanting the team to perform better. I don't know what's going on, but seems contradictory to the role and situations.

I find it soooo amazing that people can look in the eyes of a QB and determine who they are. It is absolute ridiculous to claim that skill. Sometimes, we don't even know if WR ran the right route. Yet, we are LOOKING AT HIS FREAKING EYES!

WE determined that NIX was a terrible teammate based on his body language. The MOFO is now an NFL QB. 

 

[Auburn93 808]

1 minute ago, GTNupe11 said:

Gus recruited well, actually -- until maybe the end. I'm talking about on the field play. Try again. 

I don't need to try again. You need to try again. You aren't citing any accurate evidence for your position. 

[GTNupe11 2,114]

1 minute ago, Auburn93 said:

I don't need to try again. You need to try again. You aren't citing any accurate evidence for your position. 

Maybe you should watch last season and then yesterday's game again. That's all the evidence you need. 

Edited September 8 by GTNupe11

[AUx 3,213]

2 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

I find it soooo amazing that people can look in the eyes of a QB and determine who they are. It is absolute ridiculous to claim that skill. Sometimes, we don't even know if WR ran the right route. Yet, we are LOOKING AT HIS FREAKING EYES!

WE determined that NIX was a terrible teammate based on his body language. The MOFO is now an NFL QB. 

 

I didn't - wrt Nix. You could see Nix energized the majority of the time. Thorne, is just transacting business. Maybe that's who he is and maybe that's the constraints imposed by the game plan. It looks strange to be so subdued. All I was saying. Agree, that I am no psychic. I I didn't assert he is horrible or sole cause of auburn woes. Easy to seem so since so many others are/do.

[bishoptf 767]

1 hour ago, Auburn93 said:

How is that? How well did Gus recruit? How can you compare when Gus was here multiple seasons? 

Listen, YOUR team lost to a better team. 

Eh really buy most measures, Auburn is rated talent wise much higher than Cal. You can say they were the better team yesterday but they shouldn't have been based on talent. Auburn should have had a game plan and executed and made adjustments. Instead they looked like an ill prepared team not unlike last year. Freeze so far from last year and with the beginning of this year has not shown that he can actually prepare a team FOR all the games.

Auburn should not have lost to Cal AT home period, we were once again out coached and out played by ALL accounts was an inferior team. There comes a time in the near future that Freeze has to show that he is making progress, unfortunately year 2 so far is looking a lot like year 1.

I would ask at what point does Freeze in your mind does Freeze need to show improvement, just curious as to how long I should wait for him to start turning things around ON the field.

Edited September 8 by bishoptf

[Hank2020 3,381]

2 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

NO HE ISNT. Gus would have run the ball almost every play and then thrown a screen. Freeze wants a modern day down the field passing attack. 

GUS COULDNT RECRUIT. Hugh can. 

 

That Gus logic would have worked better yesterday than what we chose. Passing attack (good one) includes the short passing game also. Game planning he is Gus 0.05 at this point. It looked like they expected it to go like the first game did and didn’t adjust on offensive side.

[arktiger1975 689]

16 minutes ago, bishoptf said:

Eh really buy most measures, Auburn is rated talent wise much higher than Cal. You can say they were the better team yesterday but they shouldn't have been based on talent. Auburn should have had a game plan and executed and made adjustments. Instead they looked like an ill prepared team not unlike last year. Freeze so far from last year and with the beginning of this year has not shown that he can actually prepare a team FOR all the games.

Auburn should not have lost to Cal AT home period, we were once again out coached and out played by ALL accounts was an inferior team. There comes a time in the near future that Freeze has to show that he is making progress, unfortunately year 2 so far is looking a lot like year 1.

I would ask at what point does Freeze in your mind does Freeze need to show improvement, just curious as to how long I should wait for him to start turning things around ON the field.

A coach who is the real deal will show significant improvement in year 2. Now, the season isn't over. It could still happen. But it ain't looking too promising after yesterday.

[auburnfaithful72 127]

Why not put in Hank to try and get a spark in the team.. Hank could not have done any worse.. it’s in those times a good coach will clear the bench to try and win.. sickening 

[PUB78 1,413]

3 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

NO HE ISNT. Gus would have run the ball almost every play and then thrown a screen. Freeze wants a modern day down the field passing attack. 

GUS COULDNT RECRUIT. Hugh can. 

 

I don’t think Hugh is Gus 2.0, but he is like Gus in that he is going to ride a horse till it dies. Thorne should have been replaced at least by late 3rd quarter yesterday.

[WFE12 9,351]

Someone said Thorne thinks RPO stands for run, panic, over throw lol

[Mims44 2,027]

6 hours ago, maryland tiger said:

Hugh = Gus 2.0

 

4 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

NO HE ISNT. Gus would have run the ball almost every play and then thrown a screen. Freeze wants a modern day down the field passing attack. 

GUS COULDNT RECRUIT. Hugh can. 

 

Gus 20-7 first 2 years.

Recruiting ranking 10th and 6th.

 

Hugh 7-8 so far.

Recruiting ranking 10th and (so far) 5th.

Calling Hugh "Gus 2.0" is a complement he hasn't yet earned honestly.

 

[AU9377 6,057]

6 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

NO HE ISNT. Gus would have run the ball almost every play and then thrown a screen. Freeze wants a modern day down the field passing attack. 

GUS COULDNT RECRUIT. Hugh can. 

 

Gus would have won the game. As for recruiting, other than OL, Gus recruited as well as anyone. Something like 7 out of 10 classes were ranked in the top 10. Gus had plenty of faults, but he also produced some really fun teams that won a lot of games.

[tbone4jc 2,393]

6 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

 

Listen, AUBURN  lost to a MUCH BETTER PREPARED, LESS TALENTED team. 

Fixed it for ya bud!