Why Auburn football needs the home version of Payton Thorne to travel to Vanderbilt

AUBURN — Auburn football quarterback Payton Thorne looked the part against Mississippi State.

He was decisive, efficient and put the ball where it needed to be more times than not. His adjusted completion percentage, which takes into account drops and throwaways, was 91.3% − the highest mark an Auburn QB has achieved in an SEC game since Jarrett Stidham in the 2017 Iron Bowl, according to Pro Football Focus.

Thorne's performance versus the Bulldogs will prove to either be a breakout game that sets him up for success over the last month of the regular season or a flash in the pan amidst a turbulent year.

That hinges on his play at Vanderbilt on Saturday (3:00 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

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Thorne has struggled on the road this season, averaging 80 passing yards and less than a touchdown per game against Cal, Texas A&M and LSU. It's not as if he's set the field on fire at home in Jordan-Hare Stadium, but his per-game numbers — 167 passing yards and 1.2 passing touchdowns — are leaps and bounds better than his road stats.

It's not even about the level of competition, either. Only accounting for SEC games, Thorne has completed 68.4% of his passes at home compared to 51.4% on the road. He's yet to score a touchdown against a conference foe on the road, too, coming up empty versus the Aggies and Bayou Bengals.

And that's not taking into account the damage he can do with his legs. Thorne has averaged 54.7 rushing yards per game against SEC competition at home. At Texas A&M and LSU, he averaged -3.5 rushing yards.

Luckily for him, games inside Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium aren't exactly known for a raucous atmosphere. The environment is even more subdued this year with the construction happening in the venue, which limits the capacity of the stadium to 28,500.

Texas A&M's Kyle Field can fit 102,733 fans. LSU's Tiger Stadium can accept 102,321.

The game against Vanderbilt will have the smallest regular-season crowd the Tigers have played in front of since they visited TCU in 1980 (22,812), according to the Auburn Observer's Justin Ferguson.

"I don't think it'll be too much different than playing in a home atmosphere, and that's no disrespect to their place," Thorne said Monday. "I played at Northwestern and that's not necessarily a rocking environment, so I guess I can compare it to that maybe.

"But I've never played there (at Vanderbilt), so I don't 100% know what to expect."

Thorne completed 15 of his 25 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown in a 38-21 victory at Northwestern when he was still at Michigan State in 2021. It wasn't a record-breaking performance, but it was one good enough to complement MSU's defense and ground attack and earn a win.

That's what Thorne needs to do again Saturday. If the Tigers prove they can do it away from home and pick up their first SEC road win since October 2021, the season continues to trend in a positive direction.

If not, all of the good will Auburn built up after topping Mississippi State will go down the drain.

"Got to keep moving in the right direction," Thorne said. "Got to keep showing up every day with the right mindset and putting our best foot forward in practice. ... (Does) it help our confidence that we won (versus the Bulldogs)? Sure, I definitely think it does. That's human nature.

"But now we've got to build on it and keep that momentum."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football's Payton Thorne next step? Do it away from home