AUBURN — Auburn football kicked off its SEC slate in the losing column, falling to Arkansas at home in a heartbreaking 24-14 defeat on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Despite finishing with more total yards, the Tigers (2-2, 0-1 SEC) were haunted by turnovers: finishing with five, including four interceptions. Auburn now has 14 turnovers in four games and are six away from tying last season's total of 20 in 13 games.

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze called the Arkansas loss miserable to watch and brought up poor play at quarterback. Hank Brown started and threw three first-half interceptions before being replayed by Payton Thorne, who threw one.

"Just, I don't have the words. It is just sickening," Freeze said. "Sickening that we can't take care of the football on the offense and just got – I've got to get that fixed.

"And so obviously we're not doing a very good job coaching quarterbacks right now. I have no idea who's starting next game sitting here right now. But I'll go back to work (Sunday), and I'll be as locked in as I've ever been to try and get it fixed."

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Wide Receiver Keandre Lambert-Smith was the best player for the Tigers' offense, racking up 156 receiving yards and two touchdowns on five receptions. Smith broke for a 67-yard touchdown reception late in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to three points.

As a senior, he doesn't want to put the blame on anyone for the teams' shortcomings. Overall, Smith wants all the pressure off the quarterbacks and wants everyone to be accountable.

"It’s frustrating, but we’re not going to point any fingers. I feel like everybody plays a part in that," Smith said. "Everybody has to protect the ball as a team: quarterback, running backs, receivers, whoever has possession of the ball at the time. I think we can all get better at that. We have to look at the corrections and go back to work.

"We’re just facing adversity as a team right now. We believe in the QB room as an offense and as a team. They’re going to get that handled and make the corrections. The receivers are going to take accountability for a few of those picks, tipped balls that we should have been deeper on the route or in a different spot. We’re going to take accountability, and we’re all going to come together as a collective and be better."

Thorne finished with 213 passing yards and two touchdowns to Smith after taking over for the second half. Now in another quarterback predicament wondering who's going to get the start next week against Oklahoma, Thorne says execution is the best way for the Tigers to get back on the winning track.

“Just back to execution, we got to watch the film," he said. "That's step one. And we got to come together and make a decision: make a decision that we're going to go out there and win, and that starts with winning each play. So, knowing my assignment, put my eyes in the right place, taking the right technique and then ultimately finishing.

"So, we just got to do that consistently throughout the game. And I think when we do that, we’ll like the results.”

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Can Auburn football save season following Arkansas loss?