Led by new starting quarterback Hank Brown, Auburn was able to bounce back following a 28-point second half, with a 45-19 win over New Mexico inside of a rainy Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“I thought he was solid. You know, rain bothered him a little bit. Bothered all of us,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said following the win. “But, I thought it was a very solid night. Decision making was pretty good, other than, I think there's two throws that kind of stand out in my mind, that were that I wish he would have thrown into blitzes, but I thought he got us into the right checks early in the game. And, you know, it was good to see him take the RPOs when he had them, and thought he had a solid, solid first game over here.”
The redshirt freshman was named the Tigers’ starting quarterback by Freeze on Thursday during a quarterbacks meeting and finished the day 17-for-25 throwing for 235 yards and four touchdowns.
“I think a lot of people are saying it was a great performance and it was a good debut but I think there is a lot of things that I need to clean up,” Brown said following his starting debut. “Me and coach obviously talked throughout the game and there's definitely a lot of things that I need to clean up and not allow those mistakes to happen next week.”
Brown certainly got more comfortable as the game progressed, throwing three of his four touchdown passes and completing nine-of-11 pass attempts in the second half compared to eight-of-15 in the first half.
“Hank will be the starter next week,” Freeze said. “The next couple weeks I think will show us exactly where we are with that, but he'll be the starter next week, and let's see what he does as we step up another level of competition against SEC play.”
After expressing ‘I thought last game we were going to run the ball a lot more’ against Cal earlier in the week, running back Jarquez Hunter had a career-high 20 carries for 152 yards and a touchdown. Hunter also had a 14-yard reception for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Running Back Brian Battie (21) diving under the Lobo's offence to score a touchdown in the second half of the game on September 14, 2024.
“We had some good runs in the first half, but had a lot better plan in the second half. But, we just went to, you know, we have a mint plan. And they kept bouncing back and forth. And then we just let our quarterback handle it in the second half between two different deals,” Freeze said of the second-half success in the ground game.
The Tigers’ ran for 147 of its 268 yard total in the second half of play with five runs of more than 10 yards in the last two quarters of play by the trio of Hunter, Damari Alston and Jeremiah Cobb.
Auburn also found success in a variety of sources through the air with 10 different players recording a reception and six recording a reception of over 12 yards.
“I think anytime you do that, you've got a happy room and it puts on tape that there's not just a single guy that you can double or do different things, and hopefully cam will be back next week to add to that rotation,” Freeze said. “But I always like to see guys that practice well, like Camden Brown and so good to see him score a touchdown, because I want to tell you, no one practiced better than him this week, and that's the reason he got the start.”
Camden Brown had a team-high four receptions for 33 yards and scored his first receiving touchdown of the season and third of his career.
Auburn’s defense, on the other hand, struggled to maintain the Lobos’ quarterback Devon Dampier who threw for 291 yards completing 22 passes.
Running Back Damari Alston (0) getting hoisted into the air by his fellow teammates after scoring a touchdown in the second half of the game against the New Mexico Lobos on September 14, 2024.
“We were not very good on defense, and I think DJ would agree, and we're not playing the ball well. We had too many penalties. Didn't contain him very well, and people got behind us, and they converted too many long plays, long distances. But again, we found a way to win the game, and we certainly will take that,” Freeze.
The Tigers were able to tighten up in the second half limiting the Lobos to just 155 total yards – 88 passing and 67 rushing.
With non-conference play taking a pause till the month of November, Freeze knows his squad will have to continue to improve in order to find success in SEC play.
“So we're gonna have to, we'll have to have a better plan and play better for sure next week,” Freeze said.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
