LEXINGTON, Ky. (EETV) – Auburn football traveled up to the bluegrass state for week nine of its season, desperate for an SEC win after an 0-4 start in conference play. The Tigers went down early, but were able to bounce back behind a superstar performance from All-SEC running back Jarquez Hunter to take a much-needed 24-10 victory.
The game had a familiar and foreboding feel early for the Auburn faithful as Kentucky drove down the field and took an early lead courtesy of a 46-yard Alex Raynor field goal. Auburn, as has been the case so often this season, was unable to answer and punted the ball back to the Wildcats. Kentucky then utilized two plays of over 30 yards to quickly get down to the goal line, and Jamarion Wilcox ran the ball in from two yards out to extend the Wildcat lead to 10 just six-and-a-half minutes into the game.
The rest of the quarter passed uneventfully as both offenses were unable to generate momentum and exchanged punts. Then, on its first drive of the second quarter, the Auburn offense found a spark. That spark? Their Senior All-SEC running back Jarquez Hunter. Hunter had two rushes of ten yards or more on the drive, each on successive plays after a 15-yard catch by KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Thorne then found Lambert-Smith in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown catch to bring the Tigers within three.
Kentucky tried to mount a drive in response, but quarterback Brock Vandagriff was intercepted by Auburn standout freshman corner Jay Crawford, who had been named to PFF’s Freshman team of the week after his performance in Missouri. The Auburn offense took advantage of the opportunity, driving down the field and setting up an Alex McPherson field goal. The former freshman All-American kicker who had been struggling with a gastrointestinal issue all season saw his first action of the season on the night, knocking in the kick from 27 yards out to form a deadlock at ten with just under four minutes remaining in the half, and the score would remain the same into the break.
Auburn took the ball to start the second half, and it was clear early that Coach Hugh Freeze and the rest of the Tigers’ staff were committed to running the ball. Jarquez Hunter carried the ball nine times on the drive for 36 yards and capped the trip down the field with a one-yard touchdown to give Auburn a 17-10 lead From then on, the Auburn offense stuck to that recipe, and the Kentucky defense had absolutely no answer for it.
Hunter ripped off a 50-yard rush on the Tigers’ next drive, as well as a 45-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to extend the Auburn lead to 24-10, where it would stay for the remainder of the game. One week after Hunter apologized for “not carrying the team” following the Tigers’ loss at Missouri, the star back finished the game with 23 carries for 278 yards, both career highs. Hunter’s 278 rushing yards was also the 4th-highest mark in single-game Auburn history, and the first 200-yard rushing performance by an Auburn player since running back Kerryon Johnson rushed for 204 yards against Ole Miss in 2017.
The Kentucky offense was similarly listless in the second half, as the Auburn defense held the Wildcats to zero points across the last 30 minutes. Kentucky tried to mount one final drive as the clock ticked inside of five minutes, but Vandagriff threw a backbreaking interception to Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee that set up the Tigers for the final drive of the game, which fittingly included a 46-yard run from Jarquez Hunter – his 3rd rush of 40 yards or more against a defense which had allowed zero such runs coming into the night. The win was Auburn’s first over a power conference opponent since November 11 last season, a fact that was not lost on Coach Hugh Freeze.
“Man, just thank the good Lord,” Freeze said after the game. “We've had our chances to win football games — a lack of confidence or not making the right call or making the right play — but tonight, our kids found a way to win. I'm just so proud of them."
Auburn will need to keep finding ways to win, because the Tigers face a potentially devastating gauntlet in their last four games that could feature three teams that will finish the season ranked, as well as two potential College Football Playoff squads to end the season.
Next week, a Vanderbilt team that beat Alabama and took Texas wire-to-wire comes into Jordan-Hare Stadium. Then, the Tigers have a bye week before hosting a ULM team that has been one of the best squads in the Sun Belt this season. After that, Texas A&M, the only 5-0 team in the SEC following its win over LSU, travels down to the plains. Finally, it’s the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa to round off the season.
So, though Auburn did show flashes of what could be a drastic improvement in Lexington, there’s still a lot of work to do if the Tigers want to be bowl-eligible at the end of the 2024 season.
