Again? Already? Is a QB battle brewing on The Plains for Auburn and Hugh Freeze?

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said he saw his receivers breaking open against the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday afternoon.

“We had people open,” Freeze said following Auburn’s SEC-opening 27-10 loss to Texas A&M.

Unfortunately for Auburn, what Freeze sees in the middle of a play means very little to the Tigers – especially when Auburn’s quarterbacks clearly aren’t seeing the same thing.

For the second time this year, Freeze deployed three different quarterbacks in one game as junior Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne, sophomore Robby Ashford and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner all took snaps Saturday.

This time, giving Geriner reps wasn’t because the game was well-in-hand like was the case when he took snaps against UMass on Sept. 2.

Geriner was getting snaps because Freeze’s back was up against the wall, and had no choice but to see if the young gun could give him anything Thorne and Ashford weren’t able to.

As has been the case all season, Thorne was the first quarterback to trot onto Kyle Field and start for the Tigers.

That bit lasted until the start of the third quarter, when Freeze yanked Thorne, who had gone 5-for-11 for just 46.

Then Freeze turned to Ashford – the same guy who piloted Auburn to a 13-10 win over Texas A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium last fall.

In Ashford’s turn under center, Freeze and Auburn fans alike were quickly reminded why the incumbent starter didn’t win the starting job this year. Simply put, relying on him to produce anything through the air isn’t possible.

Ashford went 1-for-4 through the air for a measly four yards. Meanwhile, the previously proven running quarterback couldn’t produce much with his legs either as he finished with just 25 yards on eight carries.

To be fair to Thorne and Ashford, the Auburn offensive line struggled against Texas A&M’s defensive front, which recorded seven sacks for a loss of 26 yards.

Freeze says he thinks Texas A&M’s pressure off the edge distracted the eyes of his quarterbacks, making the Tigers’ passing attack null and void.

At the start of the second quarter, Thorne had wide receiver Jay Fair wide open on a wheel route for what would’ve been a go-ahead touchdown. But instead of connecting with Fair on a 41-yard touchdown pass that would’ve put Auburn ahead 7-6, Thorne airmailed the pass well over Fair’s head.

“I thought we were holding up pretty well in the middle,” Freeze said of the offensive line. “We just got distracted some with edge pressure.”

“It just distracted our eyes to where our eyes didn’t stay downfield with the throws we might have had,” Freeze reiterated during his answer to a question about Texas A&M’s pressure.

With his more experienced quarterbacks floundering, Freeze had no choice but to turn to Geriner and see if he could fair any better once thrown into the fire in Aggieland.

Texas A&M had just put the game on ice with a three-play, 86-yard touchdown drive to put itself ahead 27-10. With just under four minutes to play, it was as if Geriner was a 16-year-old kid who had just received his driver’s license when Freeze tossed him the keys to a hand-me-down beater pickup truck and said, “Don’t add a dent.”

Geriner didn’t make it any worse, but he didn’t make it any better either as he completed just two of his seven passing attempts.

As a trio of kids fighting for the steering wheel in Freeze’s hand-me-down truck, Thorne, Ashford and Geriner went a combined 9-for-23 for just 56 yards against the Aggies on Saturday.

And that’s too many guys in the front seat of the truck than what Freeze is comfortable with.

“I don’t want to play a lot (of quarterbacks),” Freeze said Saturday afternoon.

But until something changes, what choice does the backseat driver have?

“Offensively, we’re searching,” Freeze said. “And we’ve gotta find some answers.”