Auburn vs. Alabama: How the transfer portal QBs have fared for the fierce rivals
Auburn and Alabama, two of the fiercest and proudest rivals in all of college football, managed to have some similarities this offseason regarding the transfer portal. The teams both got a starting quarterback, or so they thought. Fans, sports personalities, and journalists alike made these two acquisitions a competition, so let us look at how that competition ended up now that we are three weeks into the season.
The build-up, for those who are out of the loop, includes two teams up north, Notre Dame and Michigan State. Tyler Buchner, who lost the starting job to Sam Hartman in spring camp, left the Fighting Irish and followed his former OC Tommy Rees to the Crimson Tide. Payton Thorne, the incumbent starter for the Spartans, lost his job to Noah Kim. In late May, Thorne transferred, securing the Tide and Tigers' new starters for the 2023 season.
Buchner's departure from the Irish and his arrival to the Tide was much more acclaimed and heralded publically compared to that of Thornes at Auburn. With much more publicity came the take that Buchner would perform significantly better once the season kicked off and the Tide began rolling under the former ND duo.
Fall camp came and went, and Buchner was nowhere to be found, sitting behind the announced starter Jalen Milroe and former five-star Ty Simpson. Thorne, however, managed to hold off Robby Ashford and Holden Gernier and was announced the starter before the season. Ashford did have snaps during the first three games in running packages and late in the Samford and UMass blowouts.
Production-wise, Throne saw action in all three of Auburn's games and received over 80 percent of the snaps. Buchner has seen action in the Middle Tennessee State game as a late-game substitution for Milroe and then started against South Florida in one of the worst offensive performances in Nick Saban's tenure with Alabama.
Thorne has completed 68 percent of his passes thus far, throwing 43 completions on 63 attempts with 517 yards. The touchdown-to-interception ratio could improve, as it is 4:3, but his rushing efforts have covered up this issue for the most part. Thorne has 140 yards on 22 attempts and two touchdowns. His performance against Samford was the most rushing yards from an Auburn QB since the dynamic Nick Marshall.
Buchner has played significantly fewer snaps and against much inferior defenses. The reason for a lack of snaps seems evident with his on-field production. Throwing at a 42 percent completion rate, throwing 19 attempts, and only completing eight. Zero interceptions look amazing until you realize he has also thrown zero touchdowns. Buchner has only been responsible for two first downs through the air and two on the ground. Buchner has 20 rushing yards on three attempts and a touchdown.
Through three weeks, the Thorne vs. Buchner debate doesn't seem to be much of a debate; it seems to be a blowout in favor of Thorne. In fact, the entirety of the Alabama QB room has performed worse than Thorne. A combined 55.4 completion percentage with 588 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions put them ahead in the touchdown-to-interception ratio but behind in yards and completion percentage. Thorne has also run the ball more effectively but has three fewer touchdowns than the Bama trio.
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