Auburn coach Hugh Freeze seemed as stunned as everyone else who watched the game between his Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

The Tigers trailed Sam Pittman’s team in the fourth quarter, with five turnovers. Hank Brown threw three interceptions in the first half before Payton Thorne picked off another early in the second half.

“Very challenging,” Freeze said. “That was our topic this week. When I got up this morning to talk to them about the test, I had no idea it would be like this.”

While there is never a good time to lose the ball, at times the Tigers seemed to be their own worst enemy.

Still, Freeze liked what he saw from Thorne, who came in for the second half after being benched the week before.

“I thought it was a good ball,” Freeze said of the interception. “… We judged the ball correctly. We have to catch it. Payton played solid.”

“He’s done it before. He’s played in those environments. Payton has played well so far. We just need to catch the ball when we have completely free players. We didn’t do that today and lost it on almost every possession.”

His team seems to have heard the message.

On fourth-and-2, Thorne threw a 67-yard pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith to bring Arkansas within 17-14 with 9:50 left.

Mark Heim is a reporter at The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_HeimHe can be heard daily from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile app.