Auburn's A-Day game is final, and there was an excellent display of offensive production from quarterbacks, running backs and receivers alike. Well, for the first half anyway.
The Orange team defeated the Blue team 35-14, which was the score at halftime, with Kiehl Frazier and Jonathan Wallace combining for three passing touchdowns. Wallace owns two of those.
While Wallace was one of the stars for the offense, he deflected praise to his teammates.
"It felt great," Wallace said. "It was special being able to come out to Jordan-Hare Stadium and guys really made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball, but I am really proud of the offensive line for keeping that pace high. Without those guys we can't get anything done."
Wallace threw for 191 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and completed 18 of his 26 pass attempts.
An A-Day record crowd of 83,401 greeted the players as they stepped onto the field.
"I had never played before 80,000 people before," Cameron Artis-Payne said. "I was pumped.
The scoring began when a snap went right by Wallace was recovered in the end zone by the Orange team's Justin Garrett.
"I don't know what happened there," Garrett said. "I saw the ball on the ground and I was just trying to be the first one there."
He was.
Garrett had a big game at the new "star" position, a hybrid linebacker and safety, and was given the Mark Dorminey Defensive MVP award for his efforts.
Artis-Payne answered for the Blue team soon after with a 27-yard touchdown rush and the teams were tied at 7 apiece.
Artis-Payne was given the Lionel James Offensive MVP Award for his 117 rushing yards, a touchdown and 47 receiving yards.
"He made some really good runs," coach Gus Malzahn said. "He's a big downhill back and he's gotten better. He was a junior college guy coming in and after his first practice I think his head was spinning, but things have slowed down for him and he made some really good runs."
After a fumble and an interception by both offenses, the Orange team's Wallace threw his first touchdown of the day, a 17-yard pass to Brandon Fulse.
The Orange team added to its lead when Frazier was in at quarterback. He threw a nine yard pass to Trovon Reed two plays after a 42 yard pass to Artis-Payne, making it 21-7.
Frazier ran seven yards for a score and Wallace answered with a 30-yard strike to Dimitri Reece to make it 28-7 Orange.
The final score of the half came on the legs of Tre Mason, who ran four yards for the score, making it 35-14 Orange.
Mason's run was the final score of the first half, and it turned out to be the final score of the game as well as the clock started moving more quickly during the second half and neither offense found the end zone.
It should be noted that there were only 12-minute quarters and the quarterbacks and running backs played for both teams.
There will be two more spring practices for the Auburn football team next week. They will give the team a chance to fix some of the mistakes that were made on the field and improve on the progress the team has made.
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