Hugh Freeze Praises Young Auburn Tigers after 'Chance to Lay Down'

The Auburn Tigers found themselves in a 10-0 hole against the Kentucky Wildcats, but dominated the rest of the way en route to a 24-10 win.

The ground game took over in Auburn's win over Kentucky, but running back Damari Alston still took to the air. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Lexington, Ky. – Week after week of finding ways to not win games against conference opponents has come to an end as Auburn dominated the final three quarters of a 24-10 victory over Kentucky.

“We’ve obviously had our chances to win a lot of football games this year, but for whatever reason – lack of confidence or not making the right call or not making the right play – things haven’t gone our way,” head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game in Lexington.

“Tonight our kids found a way to win,” he added. “I just couldn’t be happier for them, for the Auburn family. We have the great fan base, the great fan base, the greatest fans and administration. Everybody has been so supportive even in a year where it has been disappointing at times. I couldn’t be more thankful. Our kids, our staff keep coming to work.”

With wins over Alabama A&M and New Mexico, Auburn came close but ultimately took home the loss in games against California, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Saturday’s win at Kentucky looked to be more of the same as the Tigers trailed 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.

“Heck, we had a chance to lay down tonight,” Freeze said. “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.”

During his post-game press conference Freeze quoted an X post from Ben Stevens that made its rounds this week – that Auburn is one of only seven teams to average more than 6.5 yards per play offensively and allow less than 5 yards per play. Auburn was 2-5 and the other six are combined 36-4 prior to Saturday’s games.

“I think we’re just so young,” Freeze said. “The belief that you’re going to find a way to win instead of find a way to lose is something that you have to experience. Hopefully now that we’ve experienced a way to win is one that that will carry over and we’ll grow from it."

After the first quarter that saw Kentucky outgain Auburn 110 to 38, the Tigers changed their plan of attack from pass heavy to run first. Jarquez Hunter carried 23 times for 278 yards, the fourth highest individual rushing total in school history.

Quarterback Payton Thorne also found comfort after a bad start. Thorne was 5-10 with an interception in quarter number one. He hit 15 of his last 16 with a touchdown the rest of the way.

“We called things that he was really comfortable with that I thought we could protect at times,” Freeze said of Thorne. “The interception, truthfully, the route should have been shade back to the ball better. I know it always shows up on the quarterback, and sometimes it is them. But I thought that route could have been run different. We’re playing a lot of young kids, and we do that sometimes. 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."

As a team Auburn ran for 326 yards on 50 attempts. Auburn outgained Kentucky 500 yards to 224. During a stretch from the start of the second quarter, the Tigers outgained the Wildcats 374 to 36.

For Hunter, it was a record-setting night. Carrying more than 20 times for the first time in his four-year Auburn career, he ran all over the Kentucky defense. 275 of his 278 yards came in the last three quarters. The Wildcats entered the contest 21st in the country allowing just 104.7 yards per game on the ground.

That number ballooned to 132.4 after Auburn was done.

“We came out and wanted to throw it early, and obviously tried,” Freeze said. “People hadn’t run it on them – outside of Florida, no one. That’s some good football teams that they’ve really stopped rushing the football. I think that speaks really highly of our running backs, our O-line, our tight ends. Our coaching staff, Jake (offensive line coach Jack Thornton) and Ben (tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua) really did a good job putting together a plan in our run game. Our running backs ran it really hard, too. That’s a phenomenal night, and the credit goes to the guys up front, and obviously the way he ran it. Damari (Alston) had some good runs also.”

Freeze battled a stomach bug in recent days, and didn’t travel with the team on Friday. He said that travel and the Friday night meeting at the hotel was the only difference in his schedule.