Auburn Tigers QB Payton Thorne: ‘We Gotta Do a Better Job Protecting the Ball’

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne threw four interceptions in a 21-14 loss to the Cal Golden Bears.

Auburn Tigers quarterback threw four interceptions in a 21-14 loss to the Cal Golden Bears. / Austin Perryman, Auburn University Athletics

Things did not go according to plan for the Auburn Tigers against Cal on Saturday afternoon as they unexpectedly fell 21-14.

Auburn never managed to get much going through the air as quarterback Payton Thorne struggled.

Thorne went 14-of-27 for 165 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions, which he acknowledged would not be a winning formula moving forward.

“Obviously, no matter how a turnover happens or occurs, you don’t want those,” Thorne said. “We gotta do a better job protecting the ball and that starts with me. I touch the ball every play so I’ve got to do that.”

Thorne credited Auburn’s defense for keeping the team in the game.

“I thought our defense really played well today,” Thorne said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of getting first downs when we’re backed up to flip the field. Field position is an important thing in this game and at this level. I thought our defense played really well today and we weren’t able to do enough to help them out.”

Cal’s defense made things difficult for Thorne and the rest of Auburn’s offense. The Tigers struggled to get into a rhythm offensively.

“Their defense did a good job of mixing some things up,” Thorne said. “When we did get a rhythm going, bang, negative play. We try to limit negative plays as much as we can and we had a few too many tonight.”

Miscommunication plagued the Tigers offensively and it resulted in the unit struggling.

“I missed a couple throws today that I feel like I make on the regular,” Thorne said. “We were on different pages and I just kind of missed them (Auburn’s wide receivers).”

Thorne knows that Auburn’s season is not over and believes that leadership from the team’s veterans is even more important as it tries to get back on track.

“It’s early in the season, it’s only week two,” Thorne said. “The season is not over, so it’s really go time now and time to respond.”