Auburn football (5-2, 2-2 SEC) lost to the University of Kentucky (3-3, 1-3 SEC) 21-14, Saturday.
This marks the second loss for the Tigers this season.
"The kids played hard and they played right down to the end," said head coach Gene Chizik. "We fell short."
Kentucky's defense held Auburn to 315 yards of total offense, 220 yards on the ground and 95 through the air.
"They played a lot of base defense and didn't give up any big plays to us," Chizik said.
Auburn opened up the scoring on a 69-yard field goal block return for a touchdown by sophomore defensive back Neiko Thorpe, in the first quarter.
The Wildcats answered in the second quarter with a rushing touchdown by freshman quarterback Morgan Newton.
Auburn was able to score a touchdown before the first half ended on a rush by senior running back Ben Tate.
Tate tallied 132 rush yards on 31 carries. He has rushed for more than 100 yards in all four SEC games this season.
The third quarter was quiet, but Auburn penalties in the fourth quarter led to two Kentucky touchdowns.
"Most of the night, I thought we played really well on defense, but they hit us with a couple of big ones, and it really ended up being the difference," Chizik said.
Kentucky was able to score two touchdowns in the last seven minutes of the game on runs of two and four yards by junior quarterback Will Fidler and sophomore wide receiver/quarterback Randall Cobb.
Senior Auburn quarterback Chris Todd was 10 for 24 for 80 yards, an interception and no touchdowns.
"We had our chances to hit some open receivers on some different routes, and it just didn't seem like we were clicking in the passing game like we needed to be for whatever reason," Chizik said.
Kentucky is first to hold Todd under 100 yards passing this season.
"He is out there trying hard," Chizik said. "Sometimes you have those type of games."
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