Could Auburn Have Better Quarterback Making His Second Start?

Razorbacks' Green has to improve over UAB game, but Tigers going with non-experienced starter

Auburn Tigers quarterback Hank Brown (15) looks to pass against the New Mexico Lobos at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Isn't always so, of course, but it's a common belief that the team with the best quarterback wins a lot more often than not. After all, anyone would rather have Tom Brady than Bryce Young at the controls, correct?

Still, several journeymen NFL quarterbacks have won the Super Bowl. Tops on that list is Trent Dilfer, who led the Baltimore Ravens to the 2000 championship. Dilfer now coaches UAB and his Blazers somehow took Arkansas to the wire before losing 37-27 last week.

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman wasn't thrilled by the performance of his team or his quarterback against UAB. But he does think his QB is far more than an ordinary Saturday afternoon signal-caller that can just hand off and connect on the occasional big play. Pittman thinks his man is a game-changer and can be the difference-maker week in and week out.

Teammates of UA quarterback Taylen Green agree with their coach, and they've witnessed not just electrifying runs or the periodic perfect pass that makes Hog fans wonder if he's the second coming of Cam Newton. Yes, Cam reached the Super Bowl and lost to Peyton Manning but he also won the Heisman Trophy.

A couple of Hogs spoke this week about "seeing" inside the guy they call their leader after UAB scored to get within 30-27 with less than seven minutes remaining. While the sellout crowd at Razorback Stadium wondered if the Hogs were going to lose, Green emanated steady confidence in the huddle. It led to a seven-play, 75-yard TD drive that put the game on ice.

Junior Fernando Carmona, the Hogs' transfer offensive tackle said the offense showed poise.

"The main one leading that is (Green)," he said. "Whenever he gets into that huddle, you can just see the look in his eyes. We might be down two scores, or we might be down a score, but it doesn't phase us. I think just the poise that he kind of gives off to us is everything."

Carmona said he's seen the look and the positive vibes from Green the last two weeks with the game on the line.

"It helped us in that Oklahoma State game," he said. "Obviously, we didn't get the job done (losing 39-31 in double overtime), but we got that drive down to tie it up. And then the UAB game, we were down, and we came back, and we fought back. But I just think it's Taylen's poise, and just kind of that aura he gives off to us."

UA tailback Rodney Hill more than echoed Carmona's comments.

"(Green's) energy is like, very powerful," Hill said. "It's games like that, you need your quarterback. Taylen is like all of that. He keeps everybody pretty upbeat, very poised, and he keeps us into it, and it really helped us."

How that plays out the rest of the season and whether Green is more like Cam Newton or K.J. Jefferson remains to be seen. Which brings us to Saturday's showdown on The Plains in Auburn, Alabama.

Who's the better QB? Is it Green or Auburn's Hank Brown, who'll be making his second collegiate start? Green has been in the huddle a lot more but Tigers coach Hugh Freeze says his guy has the "it" factor. He saw it in high school and recruited him to go to Liberty. When Freeze took the Auburn job, Brown followed and redshirted last season.

Now, the 6-4, 208-pounder is apparently the man after Auburn lost 21-14 at home to Cal a couple weeks ago when Payton Thorne, who is more of a runner than thrower, suffered four interceptions. Brown countered with an impressive debut by throwing four TD passes last week in a 45-19 rout of New Mexico, although it was only 17-13 at halftime. Still, it was plenty to claim the job for at least another week.

"I mean, he can wing it now," Pittman said of Brown. "For his first game, to throw four touchdowns, pretty impressive."

Freeze said this to the media earlier this week about Brown, as quoted in a story by Auburn Tigers on SI: "I've always had this sneaky belief that he had something to him, and now we are getting ready to find out at what level, there's no question he does, but what level is that at right now compared to the rest of the SEC. We are getting ready to find out."

Freeze started recruiting Brown when he was a high school sophomore and the promising passer committed to Liberty that year.

"I've always felt like he had this 'it' factor to him as an individual," Freeze said while praising Brown and his parents in that same story on SI.com.

Which quarterback will have more of "it" on Saturday when the 2:30 pm Central kickoff arrives? It's true that the running games, the schemes dreamed up by coaches, the big boys up front, and the defenses might make the most difference in this clash. But if it comes down to the end, it's usually the quarterback who makes the difference.

Will it be Green or Brown? Brown or Green? It's how reputations are built, one big win at a time.

HOGS FEED:

• Fans should never question whether Freeze was better man for Arkansas

• Pittman lands another 2026 in-state recruit as national ranking climbs high

• Razorbacks often don't perform well against back-up quarterbacks

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