Auburn had four possessions Saturday night to trim LSU’s lead to one score — three towards the end of the first half and one coming out the gate at halftime.

“Not saying that we would’ve won the game or what would’ve happened, but it certainly would’ve given us confidence and momentum,” Freeze said during his weekly press conference Monday morning. “We found a way in three of the four to kill the drive. I say we found a way — that’s coaches and players.”

Over the course of the four drives Freeze referenced, junior Michigan State transfer quarterback Payton Thorne struggled.

After completing a 12-yard pass to Camden Brown with more than two minutes left in the first quarter, Thorne went on a dry spell through the air and didn’t complete another pass until there were eight minutes left in the third quarter.

“I want to be clear: It’s not just the quarterback who makes the passing game go. It’s the protection, it’s the routes, it’s the correct routes,” Freeze said Monday when asked to evaluate Thorne’s performance. “We had some inconsistencies at the quarterback spot on throws.”

Thorne threw six straight incompletions during the end of the first quarter and the entirety of the second quarter of Saturday night’s game in Baton Rouge.

Coming out of halftime, Freeze handed the keys of the Auburn offense to backup quarterback Robby Ashford.

And while the drive ended up stalling at the LSU 20-yard line — resulting in Auburn settling for a 38-yard field goal — Auburn marched 55 yards down field with Ashford under center, which was the longest drive since Thorne and Ashford tag-teamed the 75-yard touchdown-scoring drive in the second half.

After watching Ashford orchestrate a drive that at least came away with some kind of points, folks questioned if Freeze had seen enough to lengthen the backup quarterback’s leash and at least see what the Auburn offense would look like with Ashford under center.

For a guy whose accuracy has always been in question, Ashford’s 39-yard pass to tight end Brandon Frazier during the field goal-scoring drive ended up being Auburn’s biggest play of the night.

But instead, Auburn returned to the two-quarterback approach it used to start the season and both Ashford and Thorne rotated in and out of the second half of Saturday’s game.

All things considered, Thorne played a better second half, going 7-for-10 through the air and finished his night 12-for-23 for 102 yards.

Meanwhile, it was Ashford who ended up being responsible for Auburn’s lone passing touchdown — albeit just a short, 3-yard completion to Frazier. Ashford finished the night 3-for-4 for 52 yards and a passing touchdown.

Nonetheless, Saturday’s offensive performance was another showing of Auburn’s offense only being consistent at being inconsistent.

“Offensively, it’s well-documented that we’ve struggled to be consistent,” Freeze said Monday.

And it’s those same inconsistencies that warranted Freeze to be asked if he has considered making an notable personnel changes as Auburn gets into the back half of the season with a 3-3 record, which features three-straight losses to SEC teams.

As of Monday, it didn’t sound like a major change of any kind was in Freeze’s immediate plans.

“No real Earth-shaking personnel changes,” Freeze said. “Just trying to get the best plan that our kids understand that they can execute with who we have.”

Surely, a change at quarterback would be considered an “Earth-shaking” change.

But just to be sure, Freeze was asked specifically if he and Auburn’s staff had considered giving Ashford a larger role in games. And his answer was a cryptic one that seemed to sidestep the question in its entirety.

“We consider everything and everybody,” Freeze said. “So that will continue to be in our thoughts.”

Later in Monday’s press conference, Freeze responded in the affirmative when asked if the plan moving forward was to utilize both Thorne and Ashford.

“I would expect you would see both QBs,” Freeze said.