Most Auburn fans remember Payton Thorne’s fourth-quarter pick-six from the Tigers’ 27-21 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday.
Regardless of the outcome of the play, Thorne justified his decision to throw on Tuesday.
“Quite honestly, if I had that play over ten times, I’d probably do the same thing ten times out of ten,” Thorne told The Next Round on Tuesday.
His comments drew a lot of attention on social media, but Thorne doubled down while speaking with reporters before practice Tuesday afternoon.
He did, however, concede that his statements might sound strange to those who watched.
“It makes no sense, right? Why the hell would you do that? “I agree,” Thorne responded. “When I look back on the play, I see that I followed through on my plan and what we discussed earlier in the week. And, as I already stated, it is simply a difficult and unpleasant scenario.
“Quite honestly, if I had that play over 10 times, I probably would have done the same thing 10 times out of 10…”
Auburn Quarterback Payton Thorne walks us through what he was seeing prior to throwing the Pick 6 vs Oklahoma: pic.twitter.com/a6W85Xt66S
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) October 1, 2024
Thorne awarded the interception to Oklahoma’s Kip Lewis, who made a terrific play under pressure.
Lewis was set up in the A-gap prior to the snap, engaging with the offensive line before backing off and making a play on the ball.
“I look at the backer, I see him coming, go to find our choice route, he wins inside, I throw it to him,” Thorne told the crowd. “They had a good call. He did an excellent job of approaching, putting his hands on our offensive lineman, signaling to me that he was coming, and then dropping out.
Hugh Freeze didn’t criticize Thorne after the game, but he did say he wished he had called a different play to avoid the issue totally.
“I shouldn’t have put him in that position and given him that option,” Freeze admitted after the game.
Auburn was on third-and-four in Oklahoma territory, leading by five points. If the Tigers had come up short and punted, Oklahoma would have had to drive the length of the field to get the lead.
“You wish you just throw that away or protect the sack and we punt it, but again in hindsight, just let me control it and let’s run the ball and then punt and see if we can play defense.,” Freeze commented on Monday.
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