Payton Thorne reveals if he agrees with Hugh Freeze's bold claim on Auburn, Arkansas
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze made headlines Monday night when he declared on his radio show that if Auburn were to play Arkansas “nine more times, we’d beat them nine more times.” It was a statement that surprised many after the Razorbacks won at Auburn by double digits this past Saturday, but it did not catch Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne off guard at all because he had already heard it.
“Yea, you know, I heard coach say that yesterday when I was talking to him in the middle of the day,” Payton Thorne told The Next Round on Tuesday.
He was asked if he agreed with Freeze’s claim, and while he didn’t give a direct answer, he made it clear that he feels like Auburn is a better football team than Arkansas.
“So obviously we’re not going to play them 10 times, but as a player on our team, I do have confidence that we’d be able to win a lot more often than not against them,” Payton Thorne said. “And that’s no disrespect at all to Arkansas, you know.
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“They beat us. They came into our place and they played well enough to win and we didn’t. They’re a good football team, like I said before, in this conference. They’ve got good players, too.”
Despite Thorne giving Arkansas some praise, he feels strongly that Auburn still has the better overall team and would be the Razorbacks time and time again in rematches.
“I think that if we lined it up however many times, I have confidence in our guys and our coaches and myself, as well. So I guess that’s just a hypothetical,” Thorne said.
Hugh Freeze gives hot take on Arkansas vs. Auburn matchup following Week 4 loss
Hugh Freeze still believes Auburn is a better football team than Arkansas, despite losing to the Razorbacks by a score of 24-14 on Saturday. The Tigers coach had an interesting opinion on his weekly radio show, Tiger Talk.
“I love Sam Pittman and I hope he wins the rest of his games,” Freeze said. “But I’m telling you that the hard truth is that if we play them nine more times, we’d beat them nine more times. That’s what’s hard to take. It’s hard for our fans I’m sure and it’s certainly hard for us.”
Auburn is off to a 2-2 start in the second season under Freeze amid a myriad of issues on offense. The Tigers have now switched quarterbacks twice, going from Hank Brown back to original starter Payton Thorne on Saturday after Brown threw three interceptions.
The showing this past weekend doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence that things will get better as the schedule gets tougher. Auburn faces top 30 defenses in each of the next three weeks against Oklahoma, Georgia and Missouri.