Payton Thorne addresses relationship with Hugh Freeze, facing criticism

Tensions were high between Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne and head coach Hugh Freeze on the sidelines on Saturday during a game against Georgia, particularly after a failed fourth-down attempt in the fourth quarter.

Freeze was seen on television angrily waving a finger in Thorne’s face as he sat on the bench.

“Yeah, I think it was a fourth-down play that was being looked at,” Thorne explained on The Next Round on Tuesday. “I won’t get in 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.

“But I will say I did not check any play. It was something that we talked about on the sideline that I said what I saw and what it was, and then obviously you know our coaches saw after the game when they watched the film too what I was saying. So we’ve handled it. But now it’s just moving forward and doing what we can to execute out there and to give ourselves the best chance to win the rest of the season.”

The play in question happened at the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Auburn facing a fourth-and-1 while trailing 21-10. The game was still within reach.

However, Payton Thorne took the snap and was quickly swarmed in the backfield for a four-yard loss. Auburn turned it over on downs, and Georgia marched right down the field to punch in a touchdown, extending the lead to 28-10 and essentially putting the game out of reach.

Payton Thorne was asked about the typical setup going into a fourth-down call like that and how much influence he has, particularly because it came on the other end of a quarter break.

“Usually I’d be standing next to coach or next to our assistant quarterback coach and hearing what the ideas are, because obviously I don’t have a headset on and coach Freeze isn’t talking through my mic at the time, he’s talking with the coaching staff about what they like,” Payton Thorne explained. “So I’ll hear some of the ideas and I’ll get to chime in too, like, ‘Hey, I really like that one.’ Or, ‘I don’t know if we’re really going to get the look we want there.’

“But this past weekend I was just standing there and I didn’t really have too much of a say-so in it. I didn’t really hear what the ideas were until the final one. So I was just standing with the guys, talking with the receivers about possible things that we could get. And then just relying on the coaches to get that play put together.”

Whatever the case, it didn’t work out. Auburn lost the game 31-13 and fell to 2-4 on the season.

Things have become pretty bleak on The Plains, and there remain questions about Payton Thorne’s suitability for the starting job. But for now, the quarterback is keeping complaints in house and simply moving on to the next.