Auburn QB Payton Thorne Credits Defense as Offense Falters vs. Vanderbilt

The Auburn Tigers outgained the Vanderbilt Commodores by 100 yards in a 17-7 loss, but the consistently stalled in Vandy territory.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne threw for 239 yards and a touchdown in a 17-7 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores. / John Reed-Imagn Images

One week after snapping their four-game losing streak, the Auburn Tigers (3-6, 1-5 SEC) check back into the loss column.

The Tigers took a 17-7 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores (6-3, 3-2 SEC) at home inside Jordan-Hare Stadium after spending a month on the road.

Auburn’s defense put together another performance that could have led the team to a win, but its offense was not able to replicate that effort.

The Tigers held Vanderbilt, who averages 351.5 yards of total offense and 32 points per game, to 227 and 17 respectively. Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne was 20/29 passing for 239 yards and a touchdown, but he was particularly dreadful in late downs as the Tigers were just 2 for 13 on third down.

“Credit to them for showing up for us,” Thorne said on Auburn’s defense. “For us offensively, we’ve got to finish drives. When we get across the 50 (yard line), we’ve got to do a good job of capitalizing on that. But going into a bye week, we got to be smart with our time, smart with what we’re doing and just stay focused on the last games that we have here.”

Jarquez Hunter had 278 yards last week in a win at Kentucky, but he was back to his under-utilized role that he's become so familiar with this year. Hunter had 50-yards rushing on just 12 carries as the Tigers rushed for 88 yards on the day.

“I thought they played hard and they did a good job obviously on defense,” Thorne said. “We hurt ourselves at times and left plays on the board, too.”

Auburn had four drives in which they got near or past the 50-yard line that did not result in putting points on the board. This is an area that Thorne intends to focus on during Auburn’s bye week.

“It just comes down to execution,” Thorne said. “It’s a simple game when you talk about it like that. A lot of moving parts for sure, but if each guy does his job it all comes together and you usually get in the endzone. We must not be doing that.”

Auburn does not play next Saturday, but takes the field in Jordan-Hare Stadium again in two weeks to face Louisiana-Monroe. Kickoff is set for 11:45 a.m. CT and SEC Network will carry the television broadcast.