As Auburn plunges into the back half of its SEC schedule it has found that, at this point, it may be stuck in the quarterback rotation between Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford.

With Thorne still Auburn’s starter, at least for technical purposes, it was Ashford on the field first against Ole Miss in Saturday’s 28-21 loss. That’s just part of Ashford’s package, head coach Hugh Freeze said — something he maintains Ashford will have each week. But while Freeze assures Ashford does have a role in this offense, the package has and will continue to change each week.

“They are doing two different things, truthfully, in the packages,” Freeze said Monday. “Whether that’s smart or not, I don’t know. We’ve got to figure that out. We obviously think it is, or have thought it is. When they’re doing two different things, I don’t think that’s an issue. They’re really confident in what you do: ‘Here’s your package, get really confident with that.’ It’s not like we’re asking one to go do the whole game plan right now, because there are two distinctively different packages.”

Both quarterbacks spoke to local reporters Tuesday, and they’re both approaching this rotation differently.

Thorne said he’s never experienced something like this before. He was an entrenched starter at Michigan State before transferring to Auburn this past spring.

It was clear from Thorne’s press conference this back-and-forth isn’t something he’s enjoying, but instead had to accept and adjust to.

He described his own package as more balanced between running and passing. And while Thorne has been productive running the ball — he is second on Auburn’s team in rushing yards this season behind running back Jarquez Hunter — but it’s clear Auburn coaches see him as the more reliable passer. He has 130 passing attempts to Ashford’s 26.

He said the offense has not been on the same page throughout this season, and that’s the biggest thing holding the group back.

Thorne kept his overall thoughts on the rotations largely reserved, saying instead that his job is just to execute whatever is called. But being in a position he has never known before, the learning curve can be, and has been, a challenge.

“It’s a new challenge for me,” Thorne said. “I’ve never really seen anybody else do that either. So I don’t know if there’s anybody I can ask to learn from. Every time I’m in there, I’m trying to do what I’m supposed to do and do what I’m being coached to do and execute and make a play when we need it. You can’t get in there in a situation like that and try to do too much. I don’t feel like I’ve done that. So just keep going in there and executing the play that’s called. If it’s called to hand it off, hand it off. You can’t try to pull it and make something crazy happen.”

Exactly what Thorne suggested — executing the correct play, handing the ball off when it is supposed to be — is an area where Freeze has critiqued Ashford. It happened on the very first series against Ole Miss with Ashford in the game.

Ashford’s role has been more complicated. Often, he has brought more of a spark to the offense than Thorne, but also more inconsistency. He has seen the changing look at quarterback more than Thorne looking back to last year at Auburn playing alongside quarterback T.J. Finley.

Ashford said that he knows his package is going to focus on running plays. Freeze has frequently said Ashford is one of the best athletes at quarterback he has ever coached and that often means keeping the ball in his hands.

“I look at it as, right now, it’s me more of a running guy,” Ashford said. “But I know I can sit back there and throw the ball around the yard. I did it last year, before I got hurt. WIth me, it’s more downhill, trying to be more physical. With Payton, it’s kinda more of an air attack. I feel like we can both can run, both can air it around the yard.”

Though, Ashford’s view on the rotation rests more on what he still wants to prove he can do: throw the ball.

“I feel like it’s a stereotype that I can’t throw the football,” Ashford said. “But, I mean, that’s kind of whatever, because I was playing… you see Texas’ quarterback, he’s sitting out with the injury that I played nine games through. That should tell you, in itself, what I was going through. But people don’t really want to look at that. I don’t really care, because they’re not doing what I’m doing. They’re sitting on the TV, sitting behind a phone screen with all that.”

Ashford’s criticism focused more on what is said about him on social media, but he took blame on himself for failing to execute what he described as good play calls and schemes from the coaches. He feels he has improved as a better thrower, something he has said at various media availabilities this season, while he plays behind Thorne.

He also believes the offense has been pressing in games, and that’s why Auburn talks about practice successes not translating over into games. He has seen that in himself, almost willing himself to make a play for the team and that leads to a bad outcome.

“We started playing when we were young, so why not take it back to those childhood memories when it was fun,” Ashford said. “It’s fun now, but the funnest times of your life when you were playing football when you were younger and not having a care in the world. You’ve got to have a care, but you’ve got to go out there with a carefree mentality. If you make a mistake, you’ve got to look at it as, ‘so what?’ Next play. That’s part of the game; we’re human. We’ve got to go out there, just relax and have fun and be the offense we know we can be because we’ve seen it happen so many times in camp and through now. Now we just go out there and put it on the field on Saturdays.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]