The opening drive of the game seemed to be a glimpse into two different realities for Auburn. Within the first three plays the Tigers had a short one-yard run, a near Cal scoop-and-score on an incomplete pass and a 16-yard bail out pass to Rivaldo Fairweather to convert third and nine.
The trio of downs to start Auburn’s game seemed all too similar to the Tigers’ inconsistent and turnover prone offense in an ‘ugly’ – as Hugh Freeze called it – win out on the west coast last season.
But, then quarterback Payton Thorne was able to complete a 41-yard bomb to true freshman Cam Coleman which set up a 15-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith two plays later.
The graduate senior quarterback then completed a 16-yard pass to Brandon Fraizer followed by another 15-yard completion to Lambert-Smith on the second and third plays of the Tigers’ second offensive possession.
With 6:10 remaining in the first quarter of play, Thorne had thrown for 103 yards – surpassing his total of 93 passing yards on the road at Cal last season – and had four completions of 15 or more yards from three different receivers.
“It was settling in,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said of his defense’s struggles against Auburn early. “On the first drive, we had a couple of losses in man and we were a little aggressive in hitting our run fits fast in some of our PO stuff. They made some good plays and you have to give them credit. And we didn’t make enough, but we settled down and played real competitive all the way through”
It seemed as though Freeze and Auburn might have just found its fix to the plaguing offensive limitations with its offseason additions but, the former portion of the Tigers’ opening drive served as a precursor to the rest of the day.
The final three quarters and change weren’t as nice to the fourth-year starting quarterback as he went nine-of-27 for 62 yards and a career-high four interceptions.
“Obviously, no matter how a turnover happens or occurs, you don’t want those, so we’ve got to do a better job of protecting the ball, and that starts with me,” Thorne said following the game. “I touch the ball every play, so we’ve got to do that and like you said, head back to the drawing board a little bit. You know, we aren’t going to abandon our offense, but we just have to be sharper.”
Thorne is the first Auburn quarterback to throw for four interceptions in a game since Brandon Cox did it in 2007 against Georgia. Including a Jarquez Hunter fumble, Auburn five turnovers led to its fourth straight loss to an FBS opponent – dating back to the New Mexico State loss in November of 2023.
“Disappointed. I hoped we were further along. I knew this would be a good test for us no matter what people said,” Freeze said following the loss. “But you cannot turn the ball over five times and expect to beat really anybody. We never got in any kind of sync offensively and that’s very disappointing and frustrating to me, and I’ve got to figure that out for us.”
The second year Auburn head coach had deemed Saturday’s matchup ‘our chance…to prove we need to be a fundamental scoring machine’ but Auburn struggled to put drives together accumulating two three-and-outs and all five turnover ending drives lasting just one or two plays each.
The Tigers' quick to end drives resulted in a lopsided time of possession margin of Cal +10:32.
Auburn will head back to the drawing board in hopes of tapping into the explosive opening drive success as Freeze and his team look to finally break through on the offensive end against quality competition in the coming weeks.
“Absolutely, that's why I’m here,” captain Luke Deal said of his responsibility to keep the team together following the loss. “I have been here — this is my sixth year, and I have had a bunch of mediocre seasons and that's not what we are trying to get accomplished this year, so anything less than what our goal is and what our expectations are and whatever we put on the field, anything less than that is on me, it's on the other captains and the guys that drive this program.”
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
