Will Payton Thorne resume his role as Auburn football QB1 after Arkansas loss?

After a demoralizing loss in the SEC opener, who will take the reins for the Auburn football offense heading into next week's game against Oklahoma

Once again, the Auburn football team finds itself back at square one when it comes to a quarterback. For the past several years, the struggles on offense have centered around the fact that no one can march the team down the field to the endzone.

From TJ Finley to Robby Ashford to Payton Thorne to Hank Brown, whatever the reasons may be, no one can get the job done. Whether the receivers don't make plays or the QB is making the wrong decisions, quarterback play is the plague that won't leave the Tigers alone.

This weekend, redshirt freshman Hank Brown got his second start in orange and blue, but the difference in the level of play between New Mexico and Arkansas was too much for the young QB. After three interceptions in the first half, Thorne came out to try and salvage the situation.

Spoiler alert! The situation was not salvaged.

So where does this leave the Tigers? The fans have lost faith in Payton Thorne after his dismal performance against the Cal Golden Bears, but it's clear that Hank Brown is too inexperienced to get the job done. Though head coach Hugh Freeze said he's not sure who will start next week, his comments on Thorne in the second half indicate that the former QB1 will resume his role.

“I thought it was a good ball,” Freeze said on the interception, per AL.com. “... We made the right read. Have to catch that one. Payton’s played solid.

“He’s done it before. He’s played in these type of environments. Payton’s played well to this point. We just have to catch the football when we have wide-open guys running. We haven’t executed today and turned it over near about every possession we’ve had.”

At the end of the day, the responsibility for making Auburn a good football team belongs to Freeze and his coaching staff, and Freeze somewhat took accountability for his decisions when speaking to the media after the game, saying that they have got to coach the quarterbacks better.

The Tigers return to action next week for their final home game before hitting the road in October. Oklahoma will travel to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time.