Payton Thorne Living in Hugh Freeze Dog House is Toxic for Auburn

The Auburn Tigers quarterback situation needs to be resolved quickly for the best interest of everyone involved.

Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne has endured a tough week after a poor performance vs. Cal. / John Reed-Imagn Images

It's a strange world when a college athlete has to deal with Venmo requests for financial recompense after playing badly, but that's where Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne currently finds himself.

Already feeling the heat from scores of disgruntled fans, the Tigers quarterback has also had his feet held to the fire by his head coach Hugh Freeze to start off his rather tumultuous week.

In his final year of eligibility, Thorne is experienced and savvy enough to realize that he simply has to double down on his preparations and sincerely hope the storm somehow blows over.

"It starts with me, personally, as I watch the film, you know I'm looking at where my eyes are, where my reads are, and making sure that I'm playing as crisp as I can, so obviously there's stuff to clean up there, and each guy looks at himself  individually and tries to learn from that tape, and it's Tuesday now, so that's behind us, and we're focused on this weekend." Thorne told the Next Round Podcast.

Digging into the game film from the shock defeat to the Cal Bears was bound to have been particularly nightmarish for Thorne, and Freeze is apparently lurking in wait.

Thankfully, potential redemption lies just round the corner in the shape of winless New Mexico.

All the same, Thorne is most certainly feeling the hot breath down the back of his neck coming from backup passer Hank Brown, and Freeze has suggested that the game must reflect the practice sessions where Thorne has shined.

"It's really hard not to play a young man, whether it's Payton or whoever else it is," Freeze said earlier this week to reporters. "It's really hard for me to not play a young man who's consistently the best performer in practice over and over again.

"Having said that, you have to carry that over into the games. You have to. ... If that continues , we have to go in a different direction."

Getting back on track against New Mexico solves at least some of the issues, but when Freeze suggested during the "Tiger Talk" show that the offensive coaching staff only made one mistake vs Cal, it simply reeks of stoking divisions more than a smidgen.

Hugh Freeze says "there was one play" he thought was a bad call by the coaching staff in the Cal game. He says he thought the rest of the play calls were there to be had, citing a lack of execution.

— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) September 9, 2024

Thorne must feel like he's a man without a country right now, it's an especially bitter pill to swallow, and it inevitably means he's going to carry the weight of the world heading into the New Mexico game.

It sure does feel that Freeze is already trying to distance himself from Thorne's failures, quite frankly, you don't have to be a football genius to suggest he's feathering the nest to bench the former Michigan State man.

While Freeze will happily play the alpha role with his decisions, Thorne still maintains the support and respect in his own locker room amongst teammates like junior running back Damari Alston.

"I just told [Payton Thorne] to keep his head up... I hate to see fans turning on him," Alston told the media this week. "The week before everyone was loving him, this week everyone is hating on him a little bit. I just want him to know this team has his back."

Freeze didn't land the plum gig at Auburn by accident, so we can presume he knows what he's doing, but opting to deploy the Machiavellian tactic of "divide and conquer" often backfires rather spectacularly.