Payton Thorne: QB · Auburn · #1.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Payton Thorne
Pushes it downfield on every look. Played for two head coaches across five seasons and two programs. The first career honor came in 2021: Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. One game to point at: 338 passing yards and 23 rushing yards against Oklahoma — Week 5, 2024.
Play style
Elite arm talent, pushing downfield. Completion rate is the variable.
Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long
Where the completions actually land
59.5% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 26.1% conversion-per-dropback — 52.0% of completions land short of the sticks.
Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. checkdown by design
Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration
Who gets the tough yard
5 of the team's 22 inside-the-5 carries (22.7%).
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Yahoo Sports Oct 26
USA Today Oct 18
On3 Oct 17Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Auburn | 199 | 317 | 62.8% | 2,713 | 8.6 | 21 | 9 | 150.8 | 67 |
| 2023 | Auburn | 162 | 265 | 61.1% | 1,755 | 6.6 | 16 | 10 | 129.1 | 25 |
| 2022 | Michigan State | 242 | 387 | 62.5% | 2,679 | 6.9 | 19 | 11 | 131.2 | 53 |
| 2021 | Michigan State | 235 | 389 | 60.4% | 3,240 | 8.3 | 27 | 10 | 148.1 | 75 |
| 2020 | Michigan State | 48 | 85 | 56.5% | 582 | 6.8 | 3 | 3 | 118.6 | 50 |
| Career | 886 | 1,443 | 61.4% | 10,969 | 7.6 | 86 | 43 | 139.0 | 56 |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Auburn | 112 | 283 | 2.5 | 2 | 31 |
| 2023 | Auburn | 134 | 515 | 3.8 | 3 | 61 |
| 2022 | Michigan State | 60 | 42 | 0.7 | 1 | 21 |
| 2021 | Michigan State | 82 | 181 | 2.2 | 4 | 32 |
| 2020 | Michigan State | 25 | 47 | 1.9 | 1 | 38 |
| Career | 413 | 1,068 | 2.6 | 11 | 61 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 73-3vs Alabama A&M | 13/21 | 322 | 4 | 0 | 15.3 | 95.1 | 4 TD passes |
| Wk 2 | L 14-21vs California | 14/27 | 165 | 1 | 4 | 6.1 | 28.9 | 4 INTs — rough day |
| Wk 4 | L 14-24vs Arkansas | 13/22 | 213 | 2 | 1 | 9.7 | 62.1 | |
| Wk 5 | L 21-27vs No. 21 Oklahoma | 21/32 | 338 | 3 | 1 | 10.6 | 65.5 | Season-high 338 yds |
| Wk 6 | L 13-31@ No. 5 Georgia | 16/27 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 7.4 | 68.1 | |
| Wk 8 | L 17-21@ No. 19 Missouri | 17/29 | 176 | 1 | 0 | 6.1 | 43.1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 24-10@ Kentucky | 20/26 | 172 | 1 | 1 | 6.6 | 76.0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 7-17vs Vanderbilt | 20/29 | 239 | 1 | 0 | 8.2 | 52.9 | |
| Wk 12 | W 48-14vs UL Monroe | 22/32 | 286 | 5 | 0 | 8.9 | 86.1 | 5 TD passes |
| Wk 13 | W 43-41vs No. 15 Texas A&M | 19/31 | 301 | 2 | 1 | 9.7 | 77.3 | |
| Wk 14 | L 14-28@ No. 13 Alabama | 24/41 | 301 | 1 | 1 | 7.3 | 63.5 | |
| Total | 199/317 | 2713 | 21 | 9 | 8.6 | — |
Week 1 · 2024
W 73-3
vs Alabama A&M
322 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · QBR 95.1 · 49 rush yds (4 car) · 1 TD
Dominant 70-point win at home against Alabama A&M.
With H. Brown — 96 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 98.9 · P. Thompson — 2 rec · 82 yds · 1 TD
The plays that mattered most
Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 314 passing plays (196 completions) against the box score's 317 attempts (199 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.
Adjusted ANY/A
7.6143 of 205 QBsSack rate
6.8%136 of 205 QBsSacked on 6.8% of dropbacks (136 of 205) — and still 43 of 205 in Adjusted ANY/A.
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Short
0–9 ydsMiddle
10–19 ydsDeep
20+ ydsOverall 62.8% completion on 317 attempts · 40 deep completions averaging 34.8 yds.
Is he a different quarterback when it matters
Each situation vs his own 2024 baseline
-47
percentile points worse on first down
Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 266 | 2.6 | 9.8 | 1.0 |
| Road4g | 212 | 0.8 | 6.8 | 0.5 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 248 | 2.0 | 9.8 | 1.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 246 | 1.8 | 7.8 | 0.5 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Hugh Freeze
Pass share
48.0%
368 pass / 399 run
Plays / game
63.9
12 games
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2024
317 pass attempts and 112 carries in 11 games, about as many passes and runs a game as a typical FBS quarterback who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
How it ended
Five seasons, at Michigan State and Auburn, 10,969 passing yards — the college career is complete.
A stat line in 52 games over five seasons.
Coaching lineage · 2019–2024
3 coachesPlayed for 3 head coaches at 2 schools: Mark Dantonio, Mel Tucker and Hugh Freeze.
