5 infuriating stats from Mississippi State football’s loss to Auburn

AUBURN, ALABAMA - OCTOBER 28: Payton Thorne #1 of the Auburn Tigers passes the football over Mississippi State Bulldogs defense during the second quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
AUBURN, ALABAMA - OCTOBER 28: Payton Thorne #1 of the Auburn Tigers passes the football over Mississippi State Bulldogs defense during the second quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 28, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images) /
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Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne (1) rolls out to pass against the Mississippi State Bulldogs
Oct 28, 2023; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Payton Thorne (1) rolls out to pass against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the fourth quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /

8.8 – The average of yards per pass attempt from Thorne against MSU’s defense

Objectively speaking, it really is impressive how good of a day Thorne had against the Bulldogs.

On the season, when looking at his yards per pass attempt, Thorne is averaging 6.9 yards per pass attempt. When considering the offense that he plays in, that’s not exactly a great number to have. He doesn’t throw the ball all that often and he doesn’t throw for a lot of yards.

But against Mississippi State’s very clearly struggling defense, Thorne managed to put up 8.8 yards per completion. This area only looks worse when you look at the adjusted yards per pass attempt.

That number? Well, it’s 11.2. For the record, that’s bad for the Bulldogs.

This goes a bit back to the last slide. Thorne had no issue sitting around and picking Mississipi State’s secondary apart. Because Mississippi State wasn’t able to get anything that resembled consistent pressure on Thorne, the Tigers’ quarterback thrived.

It’s an incredibly disheartening thing to see from a guy whose career average in yards per attempt is 7.4 and his career average in adjusted yards per attempt is 7.3.