A career performance by senior running back Jarquez Hunter paved the way for Auburn to obtain its first SEC win of the 2024 season on Saturday night in Lexington, KY against Kentucky 24-10 – ending a four game losing streak.
“Our team just keeps fighting,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said following the win. “I just think we're so young and the belief that you're going to find a way to win instead of finding a way to lose is something that you have to experience and hopefully now that we've experienced finding a way to win that will carry over and will grow from it.”
The Tigers only had one true rushing attempt three drives into the game, totaling zero yards, trailing Kentucky by 10 early. Auburn ended the first quarter of play with negative eight rushing yards.
But from the second quarter on, it was all Hunter who ran to a new career high of 278 total yards rushing on 23 carries, also a career high.
“I told coach, ‘we’re going to find a way to win this game and it doesn’t matter how we do it or how it gets done.’ I just tried to play my hardest for my teammates and coaches and give it my all every play,” Hunter said. “I tried to take advantage of the opportunities I got today. I tried to wear them out.”
Hunter did, in fact, ‘wear them out’ totaling 10 carries of more than 10 yards and three of 45 plus in the second half. The senior from Philadelphia, MS out-rushed the Wildcats by over 200 yards and averaged 12.1 yards per play.
“That's a phenomenal night and credit goes to the guys up front and obviously the way he ran it along to the other tailbacks too,” Freeze said.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Payton Thorne joined Hunter in the second quarter, and onward, resurgence completing 15 of his last 16 pass attempts and totaling 172 yards through the air,with a touchdown, on the road.
“We call things he was really comfortable with that we felt like we could protect at times,” Freeze said. “But I thought Peyton tonight, other than the last play before half was really, really solid and thought he played winning football for the most part.”
The Tigers found themselves in an early 10-point hole after Kentucky’s first two possessions. The Wildcats accumulated over half of its total yards in Saturday night’s contest in the first quarter of play.
And after receiving the ball at the Auburn 40, following Thorne’s lone interception of the night, the Tigers defense was able to force the first of seven straight drives that ended in a punt, turnover or downs for the Wildcats.
“We just played relentless on defense,” Keldric Faulk said. “Our effort, whether we made mistakes or not, it covered everything. Every mistake, every wrong check, our effort just covered everything.”
Faulk, once again, came up huge for the Tigers with two sacks and three solo tackles. The true sophomore now has seven sacks for the season and eight for his career – his third game this season with multiple sacks.
“I was just like, man, make 'em earn everything and milk this clock as much as you can. Not only do they do that but then they end up getting a stop with a pick,” Freeze said. “It was a pretty phenomenal effort.”
The defensive unit made the plays when it had to with two interceptions, from Kayin Lee and Jay Crawford – the first of his career, as well as a goal line stand to prevent Kentucky from making it a one score game in the fourth quarter.
“The hope is that you come and win one on the road and it grows your confidence for the next time -- because it's not going to get any easier with the teams we're playing. We're going to need that confidence moving forward,” Freeze said.
While it was a much needed win, that certainly stopped the bleeding for Auburn, it was a far from perfect performance and Auburn will have plenty to work on before the final stretch of the season.
Special teams penalties continued to plague the Tigers causing several longer than normal fields for the offensive unit. Auburn started five different times from inside its own 15-yard line.
The miscues continued to be prevalent on special teams with Auburn not getting a field goal attempt off at the end of the second half after taking a sack on third down. The Tigers also pushed back a separate field goal attempt, ultimately missed, from an intentional grounding flag.
“Before the half, the ball should have gone out of the back of the end zone or thrown a fade ball. We just can't take a sack there. Outside of that play, I thought in the third and fourth quarter we were really solid,” Freeze said.
Regardless of how they were able to do it, a win was must-needed for Auburn with three of its final four games against ranked opponents in the final month of the season. A potential bowl-bid is still alive and the Tigers finally have momentum after a long month away from home.
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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
