Auburn first-year head coach Hugh Freeze said leading into Saturday’s game at Cal that he intended to use multiple quarterbacks, just as he did in Week 1 during Auburn’s 59-14 win over UMass.

He then went on to say that if the Tigers get to 2-0 using two quarterbacks, he might still keep at it.

“I know people in this world and day in time (think), you know, you can’t play two quarterback,” Freeze said on Sept. 4. “Well, I don’t know, maybe they’re right. But we’re 1-0, and if we go 2-0 doing it, we’ll keep doing it.”

Well, here we are.

Auburn is 2-0 after beating Cal 14-10 in a game that likely left many Tigers’ fans reaching for another late-night drink. But perhaps more importantly, the inept performance from Auburn’s offense left Freeze scratching his head with questions.

The Tigers totaled 230 yards of offense against the Golden Bears, whose offense managed to tally 273 yards.

And of those 230 yards of offense, less than 100 of them came through the air as Auburn was unable to establish any kind of rhythm — let alone threat — in the passing game.

Since being named Auburn’s starter in mid-August, junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne has done just that as he started first against UMass and then again Saturday night against Cal.

However, unlike his first start against UMass — which saw him pilot the Tigers on an 11-play, 62-yard scoring drive — Thorne didn’t help Auburn get out to the start it wanted.

Instead, after shoving the football into the belly of Jarquez Hunter on back-to-back plays to see a 3rd and 5 situation, Thorne scrambled around for a first down, only to be stripped of the football as he was spun down to the turf.

In his next outing, Thorne was sacked for a loss of seven yards on third down, forcing Oscar Chapman to punt from inside his own endzone.

It wasn’t until there was under a minute to play in the first quarter that Thorne completed Auburn’s first pass of the night — a 4-yard toss to Hunter on first down.

Even after Thorne hit Jay Fair for on a 13-yard touchdown pass in early in the second quarter, it still felt as though the Tigers’ offense was flat as a board. There was no spark, let alone fireworks.

“We just had no juice, no momentum,” Freeze said. “And so you’re kind of searching for it.”

On Saturday night in the hills of Berkeley, Calif., the hope was sophomore quarterback Robby Ashford could be what the Tigers were looking for. After all, that was certainly the case against UMass as he rushed for three touchdowns.

While Freeze believes in him as a passer, many of Ashford’s packages are designed to tailor to his strengths — meaning Ashford will often be asked to call his own number and tote the ball, or run option plays with Auburn’s committee of running backs.

“Robby’s got to get his touches,” Freeze said. “We had a really good package for him, had a good drive going in that package. And then one of our running backs went the wrong way and created a negative play and got us behind the chains. So it was just one thing after another offensively, which ultimately it has to start with me and our offensive staff as to why we did some of the things we did.”

Respective to Auburn’s offensive struggles on Saturday night, griping about one negative play is like crying over spilled milk.

The Tigers turned the ball over four times as Thorne, Hunter and Damari Alston all had fumbles with Thorne also throwing an interception. And not being able to maintain possession and build a sustainable drive definitely had a negative effect on Auburn’s offensive groove.

“I’m not making any excuses because we have to own what’s on the film. But when you turn it over four times and you don’t get a lot of possessions in a game, it’s hard,” Freeze said

Freeze added that he wasn’t disappointed with Auburn’s play calling on offense — even when the Tigers completely abandoned the pass game in the third quarter, not throwing a single pass.

Not having a firm grasp on who your guy is going to be under center complicates things a lot.

Thorne was advertised as a guy who completed more than 60% of his passes and averaged more than 220 passing yards a game at Michigan State. So far, Thorne has checked the first box with a 61% completion percentage through two games.

But Thorne is averaging just 117 passing yards per game after going 9-for-14 for just 94 yards against Cal.

“We need Payton to play better, truthfully, too,” Freeze said. “I’m not beating up Payton. He played really well that last possession, but we really do need more consistency there throughout the whole game. And that’s our challenge, is to get him and Robby and Holden to that point.”

Down four points with just more than 11 minutes to play, Thorne piloted the Tigers on a 10-play, 69-yard march that ended in a 5-yard, go-ahead touchdown to Rivaldo Fairweather. It was Auburn’s longest drive in terms of distance, time of possession and the number of plays.

Thorne went 4-for-4 for 56 yards and a passing touchdown in that drive.

“The last drive was one we’re going to choose to concentrate on and focus on, and see if we can’t build on that,” Freeze said. “It was inconsistent until that point.”

But was that lone drive enough to sell Freeze on Thorne and a more traditional one-quarterback approach?

It doesn’t sound that way.

However, what it does sound like is that the quarterback situation could look a bit different moving foward.

“I do not like the way the other night went with it,” Freeze said. “At the same time, I think Robby has to get his touches. So that is absolutely something that’s on my mind, and we’ve got to figure it out.”