Veteran quarterback Payton Thorne will start for Auburn when No. 21 Oklahoma visits Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday afternoon, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel Friday.

Thorne, the former Michigan State transfer, started 13 games for the Tigers last fall. He returned as the program’s starter in 2024 before he was replaced by redshirt freshman Hank Brown in Week 3. In Thorne, Auburn will have an experienced starter under center in Week 5 against a Sooners defense that leads the nation in turnovers (12) and ranks 28th in total defense this fall.

Auburn initially turned to Brown after Thorne threw a career-high four interceptions in a 21-14 home defeat to Cal on Sept. 7. Brown led the Tigers past New Mexico in his first career start in Week 3, but struggled against Arkansas last Saturday, completing 7-of-13 passes for 72 yards with three interceptions. After Auburn went scoreless before halftime, Thorne took over at quarterback in the second half of the 24-14 home loss, finishing 13-for-23 for 213 yards with two touchdowns and interception.

Both quarterbacks turned in strong weeks of practice ahead of this weekend’s visit from Oklahoma, but Auburn will go with Thorne Saturday, banking on his experience and the momentum he built in his relief work against Arkansas as the Tigers chase their first SEC win of 2024.

Auburn hosts the Sooners at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC in Oklahoma’s first SEC road game.

Oklahoma is reshuffling their entire offense after what happened last weekend against Tennessee. That won’t be fixed in just a week, though, with how bad that Joel Klatt thought they were on that side of the ball.

Klatt assessed the Sooners’ offensive film from their conference opener and reacted to it on his show this week. Frankly, it wasn’t pretty whatsoever for OU.

“What was that?” Klatt asked. “I did watch their offensive film on Sunday. It was gross. It was gross…Their film is a disaster. This offense has to go back to square one.”

“The offense was an absolute mess. Now they have a quarterback dilemma but I’m here to tell you that it is not a quarterback issue at Oklahoma,” said Klatt.

Oklahoma totaled just 222 yards overall with neither aspect being all that effective. They also only converted on third down just three times in the entire game.

That’s before getting to the quarterback question of it all. Jackson Arnold started the game and went 7/16 (43.8%) for 54 yards with three total interceptions. The Sooners then sat him for Michael Hawkins who went 11/18 (61.1%) for 132 yards, plus 22 more in rushing, and a touchdown.

Coming out of that game, Oklahoma is now sticking with Hawkins. However, with what all is wrong with their offense from a technical and foundational standpoint, Klatt knows it doesn’t matter which quarterback that they play.

“You can say all you want that, like, okay, they’ve got a quarterback issue and they’ve got to fix the quarterback position. It’s not a quarterback issue. It really isn’t. While their quarterbacks played poorly, it is an offensive issue,” said Klatt. “Every single piece of their offense was bad – every single piece. The game plan? Bad. Execution? Bad. The fundamentals? Bad. All of it. All of it. Every single piece of it. The protection plan was, at times, egregiously bad where the quarterback is looking dead into the spot where the linebacker is blitzing from, which means he either should be hot or side adjust, meaning, like, throw the football quickly, and he’s taking a full drop, hitching, and almost getting sacked while the offense shuffles the other direction, slides the other direction.”

“It’s wild what they’re doing!” Klatt exclaimed. “The schematics are totally off.”

For Klatt, that leaves the blame on the coaching staff. Either they coached them to do what he saw on tape, which would be bad, or they’re allowing the team to do what he saw on tape, which would be bad too.

“As a coach, you have to understand these two truths about the film that you watch. What you see on that film? You are either only one of two things – coaching or allowing,” said Klatt. “At OU, there is a lot of bad football being played. If you’re telling me that everything that they coach them to do is not being done on the film then that’s a problem. If they are doing what’s being coached then that’s a problem.”

Oklahoma might find some better offense with this change ahead of their first road game in the league. Still, Klatt says it’s going to take a lot more than that to fix what he saw happening in Norman last weekend.

Oklahoma true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins, Jr. is making his first start on the road, but won’t have five of the team’s top wide receivers against Auburn on Saturday, the latest SEC football availability report has revealed.

Deion Burks was downgraded to out after emerging as questionable in yesterday’s injury report, but the receiver is dealing with a soft tissue injury, according to head coach Brent Venables.

Nic Anderson, who made his first appearance of the season last week against Tennessee, is also listed as out, as are Jalil Farooq, Jayden Gibson, and Andrel Anthony.

OU’s offense took another hit as tailback Taylor Tatum was designated as out for the game after he exited last week’s loss against the Volunteers.

Defensive backs Kendel Dolby and Gentry Williams are also out for OKlahoma, as are offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett and place kicker Tyler Keltner.

Sooners linebacker Dasan McCullough was listed as questionable and offensive lineman Jake Taylor is probable to appear in the SEC road opener.

Auburn listed three players as out against Oklahoma: defensive backs Tyler Scott and Champ Anthony, and tight end Brandon Frazier.

Three players are designated as probable for the Tigers.

Defensive lineman Isaiah Raikes, offensive lineman Izavion Miller, and place kicker Alex McPherson could come available for Auburn when game time nears.

How does the SEC football availability report work? 

The initial report is released on the Wednesday night prior to an SEC game with daily updates to follow, culminating in a final injury report 90 minutes prior to kickoff of a Saturday game.

Before gameday, players are designated by their school as available, probable, questionable, doubtful, or out for the game.

On gameday itself, players are designated as available, a game-time decision, or out.

Failure to properly and accurately designate a player on the availability report will subject schools to potential penalties from $25,000 for a first offense to $100,000 for a third and further offense.

More … Oklahoma vs. Auburn score prediction by expert model

–

More college football from SI: Top 25 Rankings | Schedule | Teams

Follow College Football HQ: Bookmark | Rankings | Picks