College Football 2024: Winners and Losers from Week 5 | News, results, highlights, statistics and rumors

Auburn has lost track of the plot, and it’s not even October yet. The Tigers dropped to 2-3 this season with a 27-21 home loss to Oklahoma on Saturday. Although the Tigers led 14-10 early in the fourth quarter, they completely imploded in the fourth quarter and lost at home for the third time this season.

Going into the game, it looked like Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze’s pregame decision to switch back to quarterback Payton Thorne a week after he was benched had paid off. He threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter to give the Tigers a halftime lead and had another touchdown toss early in the fourth quarter to give his team a 21-10 lead.

But as the quarter wore on, Auburn’s offense stalled, just as Oklahoma’s offense came to life. The Tigers missed a 51-yard field goal and the Sooners responded with a touchdown drive to make it a one-score game.

On Auburn’s next possession, Thorne helped lead the Tigers’ offense to the Oklahoma 43-yard line. But on third down, Thorne’s pass was intercepted by Oklahoma’s Kip Lewis, who returned it 63 yards for a touchdown.

On Auburn’s final two possessions, Thorne completed just four passes, was sacked three times and had one incompletion. Oklahoma scored a field goal with 57 seconds left to take a six-point lead.

It was a great comeback win for the Sooners after Oklahoma’s disappointing 25-15 loss to Tennessee last week. For Auburn, this was another massive collapse from both the Tigers and head coach Hugh Freeze.

The head coach’s seat will only get warmer as this season progresses. Freeze, who has an 8-10 overall record at Auburn, blamed his players for the early season losses. After last week’s 24-14 loss to Arkansas, Freeze inexplicably said a few days later that his team would play Arkansas nine times if it played nine more times. There is also the following: