Auburn Quarterback Payton Thorne Needs to 'Be a Goldfish'

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne is likely to get a fresh start against the Oklahoma Sooners, and he'll need to quickly put the past behind him.

To move forward against the Oklahoma Sooners, Auburn Tigers quarterback will need to put the past behind him quickly. / John Reed-Imagn Images

All good quarterbacks and even serviceable game managers need to be able to turn the page on their mishaps. According to the great philosopher Ted Lasso, the happiest animal in the world is the goldfish, because "it has a 10-second memory."

ted lasso tells sam obisanya to be a goldfish scene clip pic.twitter.com/49lV2cTs0I

— ted lasso clips (@tedlassoclips) January 15, 2022

Chances are, Auburn Tigers head Hugh Freeze will quickly anoint his only momentarily-dethroned signal caller Payton Thorne back to the starting position ahead of this weekend's showdown with the No. 21 Oklahoma Sooners at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The best advice for Thorne comes from the fictional Lasso - "Be a goldfish."

Truth is, accepting gracefully the invite back on the dance floor might well be his true gut feeling, especially if he is indeed inserted back under center by Coach Freeze.

To his credit, the veteran Thorne is doing his best to tune out all the noise.

"I try my best not to pay too much attention to stuff that's said in the media by anybody because being in it as long as I've been in it - it's still kind of a short time compared to some people or a lot of people - but when you say stuff to the media, it's not always true," Thorne confessed during a visit on "The Next Round" show.

It's worth reminding ourselves that even the great Peyton Manning holds the NFL record for interceptions by a rookie, for as much as they are nasty pills to swallow, picks remain occupational hazards.

That being said, Thorne has to draw a line in the sand when it comes to turning the ball over, or else he'll fall flat on his face again.

Certainly Thorne hasn't been shy of shouldering responsibility for his frequent misfires, still, he did display at least some of that famous, "quarterback amnesia" when he spoke about his picks.

"Obviously, we've turned the ball over too many times, and we got to fix that and be clean with the ball," Thorne admitted. "But for me, personally, when I'm analyzing my game and I take a look at the turnovers that I've had myself, I look at it, I'm not too terribly upset about the decision making that I've had.

"When I look back and look at the context of those interceptions, I'm not banging the table going, 'What the hell am I doing?' I try to keep that in mind as best I can. And obviously, you want to keep getting better as the season goes on, but, in terms of that, that's what I've been doing."

Yes indeed, framing things in context is really important, but it only ever tells part of the story. How you train yourself to respond to adversity sometimes doesn't mesh in a locker room, especially when so many people are counting on you to pony up and not make critical errors.

For as much as Thorne can blank out his own errors, and even put them down to simple twists of fate which happened to bump into his front fender, he might still find he's uninsured.

If Thorne quickly reverts to type against Oklahoma , then he's driving headlong into a very uncertain future during his final year of eligibility. With Freeze's recent history of having a quick hook, he can't afford another poor outing this weekend against the Sooners.