Auburn's Payton Thorne among highest-graded quarterbacks in week nine

Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne showed out this past weekend against Mississippi State.

Thorne completed 20-of-26 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns against the Bulldogs. All three passing scores came in the first half.

He was accurate, on time, and delivered a pair of really nice throws downfield.

According to Pro Football Focus, Thorne had the third-highest grade among college quarterbacks during week nine. He finished with a grade of 90.2. Only USC's Caleb Williams (91.0) and Drake Maye (93.0) were higher.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was asked if there were any conversations heading into the MSU week about whether or not they would tailor the play calling and gameplan to make Thorne more comfortable.

Freeze said there wasn't exactly a conversation, but more of him telling the staff what was going to happen.

"There wasn't really a conversation, it was just 'this is what we're doing,'" Freeze said. "That's it [...] we'll figure out which one of 'em can either do it or not, and if none of them can, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I think Payton loved it. I thought Robby showed some good things in practice too, but Payton was obviously - took the initiative and was playing well enough [...] and that discussion wasn't ugly, but you get to a point where the only thing that I know is what I gotta be comfortable with. this is what i think we need to do, and I'm not up for - and its not like they're fighting me on it, usually it was 'should we have this package, or should we have this package with this,' and it was 'no, this is the only thing we're going to do."

Auburn will travel to play Vanderbilt this Saturday, November 4th. Kickoff is at 3:00 pm CT. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.

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