Auburn Fought Off Déjà vu to beat Kentucky

The Auburn Tigers dominated the Kentucky Wildcats after falling in a 10-0 hole, but the mistakes that have haunted them this season were still present.

Auburn Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter rushed for 278 yards against the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night. / Photo by Austin Perryman, Auburn Tigers

Lexington, Ky. -- Auburn’s dominating 24-10 win at Kentucky started off with more of the same as Auburn entered the contest 2-5 and had a terrible start at Lexington before the defense stepped up and the Tigers offense turned to the run game.

Having deferred its decision to the second half, the Auburn defense took the field first and allowed Kentucky to drive for a field goal and an early 3-0 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Malcolm Simmons ran it out and Micah Riley was called for holding. Auburn started its opening possession on its own nine-yard line, and went three and out after three-straight Payton Thorne passes.

It was déjà vu for the Tigers.

“Heck, we had a chance to lay down tonight,” Hugh Freeze said after the game. “Down 10-0 on the road. There’s just no quit in them. I’m just really, really proud of everyone’s effort tonight. It’s a tough place to play against a really good defensive football team. I thought our kids handled everything really well.”

It only took Kentucky seven plays to go 53 yards as a Jamarion Wilcox two-yard touchdown up the middle made it 10-0. On only Auburn’s fifth play from scrimmage, Payton Thorne threw an interception into a zone, and the Wildcats had the ball up 10 in Auburn territory with a chance to go up three scores before Keldric Faulk notched his first of two sacks on third down.

Auburn’s playcaller(s) chose to keep passing the ball, which led to another Oscar Chapman punt. Kentucky had the ball and a 10-point lead going to the second quarter, but Auburn dominated the rest of the game.

“Yeah, we’ve gotta run the ball some,” Freeze said on the telecast between quarters. “We tried to come out throwing, and we’re not protecting very well. We’ve got to keep it balanced, but we’ve definitely got to establish the run.”

Faulk came up with another sack and stop for the defense, and from there the Tigers controlled the rest of the game. Auburn tied the game after a KeAndre Lambert-Smith touchdown catch and an Alex McPherson 27-yard field goal. Tied 10-10, Auburn was looking for a halftime lead. However, the game mismanagement that has plagued the Tigers all year reared its ugly head.

With the ball on the Wildcats’ 14-yard line with 15 seconds left and no timeouts, Auburn could have opted for a 31-yard field goal attempt. Missed field goals have cost the Tigers in a big way in their 2-5 start, but starting placekicker Alex McPherson made his 2024 debut on Saturday after batting gastrointestinal illness since the end of the 2023 season.

Coming out of a timeout, It was third down and Freeze opted to run another offensive play. The play called for max protection with Jarquez Hunter and Rivaldo Fairweather left in to block. Left tackle Dillon Wade was beat on an inside move, Hunter didn’t see it, and Thorne was sacked.

The clock was ticking down as Auburn guard Jeremiah Wright signaled to spike the ball, on fourth down nonetheless. Connor Lew, center, not long snapper, grabbed the spotted ball. All five of Auburn’s offensive linemen stayed in the game as if they were trying to spike the ball on fourth down. The field goal team ran onto the field, and snapper Reed Hughes was run over by Percy Lewis. The clock ran out, and it wouldn’t have even mattered as there were 14 Auburn players on the field.

Time mismanagement and not capitalizing at getting three points to end the first half was déjà vu once again.

At that point the game was tied 10-10 and it had to feel like to anyone who has watched Auburn this year that the Tigers were going to find ways to not win the game.

Though the sack happened fast, Freeze said after the game that Thorne had a chance to throw a fade or get rid of the ball. “I thought Payton tonight other than the last play before the half was really, really solid. I thought he played winning football for the most part,” Freeze said.

Auburn took a 17-10 third quarter advantage, and then another one of “those plays” happened from another likely source.

Football being the copycat sport that it is, Auburn attempted a play that has been successful around college football this year.

The ball was snapped to Hunter, who handed off to Thorne on a boot to the right. Thorne, playing in his 49th career game across five seasons, still doesn’t know the rules of grounding. With no one open and pressure coming, Thorne escaped the pocket and threw the ball out of bounds and across the line – a legal play if the ball was snapped to him. Being that Thorne took the handoff, he wasn’t afforded the right to throw the ball away out of bounds.

The grounding call took Auburn from the 21 to the 29, setting up a 47-yard field goal attempt -- rather than one from 39 yards. McPherson’s field goal hooked left.

McPherson has never missed an extra point attempt or a field goal inside of 45 yards.

Fortunately for Auburn, it was the much better team through 60 minutes.

As effective as Auburn’s ground game and defense were versus Kentucky, the score should have been much more lopsided than a 14-point win. For the first time all year Auburn beat a power 4 opponent, but the mistakes that keep points off the board are still present.

No. 25 Vanderbilt will visit Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday at 11:45 a.m. The Commodores (5-3 overall, 2-2 SEC) lost 27-24 to Texas on Saturday. Auburn improved to 3-5 overall with a 1-4 conference mark.