Auburn's “disgusting” turnover problems continue in loss to Arkansas

Auburn still can't get out of its own situation.

It was the second game this season with five turnovers, this time resulting in a 24-14 loss to Arkansas, starting Southeastern Conference play at 0-1.

Not even a change at quarterback could solve the ball security issues that plagued Auburn in its Week 2 loss. Hank Brown entered the game against Arkansas with relatively high expectations after throwing for 235 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions in his first game against New Mexico.

However, that hope quickly evaporated when Brown played a ball into tight coverage on the first drive, which was deflected and intercepted.

And worst of all, Auburn moved the ball well and seemed on its way to making a statement, scoring seven goals to start the game.

That obviously didn't happen, and things only picked up from there. Brown threw two more interceptions in the first half, and a Damari Alston fumble near the goal line brought Auburn's turnover tally to four before halftime.

“I'm at a loss for words. It's just disgusting,” Hugh Freeze said after the game. “It's disgusting that we can't take care of the football on offense.”

Three interceptions led Freeze to bench Brown after halftime and return Payton Thorne, who started the first two games of the season.

Thorne performed better than the redshirt freshman, but not perfectly, and threw only one interception.

This turnover came about on a pass over the middle that went from the hands of wide receiver Cam Coleman into the hands of Arkansas defensive back TJ Metcalf.

From a dropped pass to several poorly read interceptions and a careless fumble at the goal line, Auburn lost the ball in almost every way imaginable.

“When you do something like that, the time of possession in the first half is horrible. It's awful to watch,” Freeze said.

Given the many different ways Auburn gained the upper hand on Saturday and so far this season, it's hard to come up with a simple solution.

When asked how Auburn could solve these problems, Freeze sounded perplexed.

“Unfortunately, that's what I know, and I know guys are free, and I know we're running the ball,” he said. “We've got to find a guy that's not going to throw it to the other team. We've got to find running backs that are going to hold onto it.”

While this isn't the most thorough analysis of what needs to change, it's not inaccurate either. Auburn desperately needs to find an answer to the quarterback question, and with two different quarterbacks benched due to turnovers, that answer is more unclear than ever.

The fumbles seem to be more recoverable. Alston's fumble near the goal line happened when he made a cut and left the ball too wide open. That can probably be fixed with ball security drills in practice.

However, something definitely needs to change. Auburn is 2-2 in its first four games and still has games against Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri and Alabama to play.

It's highly unlikely that the Tigers will be favorites in any of those four games, and their other three SEC games against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M are no picnic either.

Peter Rauterkus reports on sports in Auburn for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or send him an email to [email protected]M