Fast starts ‘vital’ in Auburn’s win streak

Auburn, now bowl-eligible at 6-4, has turned its season around with a three-game win streak. At one point, the Tigers stood at 3-4, on a four-game losing streak. Since then, Auburn is 3-0, taking command early against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. In each game of the current win streak, Auburn has established first-quarter leads, setting the tone of those contests early.

“Fast starts have been good to us,” said head coach Hugh Freeze. “I think we do a decent job of managing the game if we get out to a lead. Fast starts are always good...so the fast start was vital to us.”

In its past three games, Auburn is outscoring opponents 49-6 in the first quarter. The Tigers have gained 486 first-quarter yards in those games, averaging 162 yards in the first quarter over the last three wins. 

In their four losses, the Tigers scored a combined 17 points in the first quarter, going scoreless in the opening frame of two of those games.

Not only has Auburn gotten off to fast starts, it has done so with both the run and the pass. Against Mississippi State, quarterback Payton Thorne passed for 120 yards in the first quarter. Against Arkansas, he had 93 first-quarter pass yards. 

Meanwhile, against Vanderbilt, the Tigers ran for 131 yards in the first quarter, while they ran for 76 in the first quarter against the Razorbacks.

Auburn has scored a touchdown on its opening drive in each of the three games it has won in this streak. In fact, the Tigers have reached the end zone multiple times in each of their last three first quarters.

While the offense has produced early in games, the Auburn defense has kept its opponents from doing the same. Auburn has allowed just six first-quarter points in its current streak, giving up single field goals to Mississippi State and Arkansas. The Razorbacks’ field goal was set up by a short field following an interception.

The last three opponents have a combined 184 yards in the first quarter against Auburn, an average of just over 61 first-quarter yards in the three games.

To compare, in its four losses preceding the win streak, Auburn totaled 299 first-quarter yards, an average of 74.45 yards first-quarter yards in the losses. Meanwhile, opponents totaled 505 yards in that span, an average of 126.25 yards given up by the Auburn defense. In those four losses, Auburn was outscored in the first quarter, 37-17.

Also, in the four losses, Auburn was extremely one-dimensional on offense, passing for only 59 combined yards in the first quarter of those games, an average of 14.75 first-quarter pass yards. 

In this three-game win streak, Auburn, specifically Thorne, has improved that by 177 yards, with 236 first-quarter passing yards in the span of this streak. The Tigers have passed for an average of just under 79 yards per first quarter in this win streak, an improvement of nearly 64 yards.

With the passing game now getting off to better starts, the rush offense has also seen improvement, as the Tigers are not as one-dimensional as they were previously.

As the offense and defense have improved greatly in the first quarter, the Tigers have built stable leads early, allowing some room for error later in games. Previously, any mistake significantly hurt the Tigers, but that has not been the case over the past three games. 

In the past two games, Thorne has thrown an interception that either directly led to a score or set up a short scoring drive. Those miscues have not factored in the result either time, as Auburn had double-digit leads when both occurred, despite one happening midway through the first quarter and the other occurring at the start of the second quarter.

The Tigers look to continue the trend of hot starts and build on the momentum they have established in their remaining three games, including a bowl appearance.