11.5.23 Football Articles

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wsfa.com

Jaquez Hunter rushes for 183 and two scores, Auburn takes down Vanderbilt on the road

James Hayes

~4 minutes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSFA) - The Auburn Tigers traveled to the Music City on Saturday for an SEC showdown with Vanderbilt. Jarquez Hunter had a career day against the Commodores, rushing for 183 yards and two touchdowns on the way to a dominating 31-15 Auburn victory.

The Tigers wasted no time finding the endzone when the offense hit the field in the first quarter. Jarquez Hunter exploded for a 67-yard touchdown run to put the game’s first points. This came after a failed Vanderbilt field goal attempt on the game’s opening drive.

A short while later, Hunter struck again. This time, he broke loose for 56 yards as he rumbled into the endzone for his and the team’s second touchdown of the game.

The Auburn defense continued to dominate throughout the first half. They didn’t allow a single point and forced the Commodore’s offense to five three and outs. However, the Vanderbilt defense was able to put points on the board when Payton Thorne threw an interception to Bryce Cowan on the Auburn five-yard line. Cowan walked into the endzone, making it a 7-point game.

Auburn added a field goal before the end of the first half, and the score was 17-7 when the teams headed into the locker room.

When the second half got rolling, the Auburn offense picked up where they left off. This time, Payton Thorne connected with wide receiver Rivaldo Fairweather for a 53-yard touchdown, and the lead was now 17 points.

The Tiger defense continued to smother the Commodores, forcing another quick three and out. When the offense came back out, Thorne went back to the air. He hit a 39-yard pass on 3rd and 5 to Ja’Varrius Johnson to keep the drive alive. A few plays later, he found Jeremiah Cobb in the endzone, and the Tigers took a commanding 31-7 lead.

Late in the third quarter, Vanderbilt finally found success on offense. Quarterback Ken Seals took advantage of the excellent protection the line gave him and found a wide-open Junior Sherrill for a 30-yard touchdown, giving the Commodores their first offensive touchdown of the evening. The Commodores converted a two-point conversion attempt and cut the lead down to 16 points with a lot of time left in the game.

Vanderbilt put together another big drive late in the fourth quarter and threatened to score again. On first and goal from the 10-yard line, the Auburn defense came up big again when Marcus Harris and Cam Riley got to Seals, sacking him for a huge 11-yard loss. The Commodores never recovered and went on to turn the ball over on downs.

In the final two minutes of the game, the Auburn defense came up with a big turnover when the Commodores were driving down the field, attempting a late-game comeback. On 4th and 13, the Commodores were forced to go for it, and Seals went to the air. Nehemiah Pritchett jumped the pass, bobbled it for a split second, and came down with the interception, essentially ending the game with 1:50 left of the clock.

Auburn left Music City with their second SEC win in a row after dropping their previous four straight conference games. The Tigers now will look ahead to another tough SEC road game next weekend when they head to Fayetteville to take on an Arkansas Razorback team fresh off a 39-36 overtime victory over Florida.

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saturdaydownsouth.com

Hugh Freeze comments after Auburn snaps road losing streak, extends impressive defensive feat

Keith Farner | 10 hours ago

~3 minutes

Hugh Freeze credited the Auburn defense as the Tigers continue to have a strong season under defensive coordinator Ron Roberts. The win over Vanderbilt on Saturday was marked by turnovers, as the Auburn defense itself only gave up 8 points.

Freeze spoke with Taylor Davis on the SEC Network after the win.

It was Auburn’s first SEC road win since Oct. 16, 2021, and it snapped an 8-game losing streak.

“I’ve seen a lot of people struggle here against this Vandy team,” Freeze said. “Clark’s done a great job and his kids fight. I thought our defense rose up when they had to, and we started the 2nd half awfully well offensively and then just held on. We probably could have thrown it some more, but 2-score lead and what happened in the 1st half, we threw it and gave them a score. So we’re thrilled to win 2 consecutive SEC games and one step closer to bowl eligibility and head back to Auburn.”

It was the 18th straight game that the Auburn defense has forced a turnover, and that impressed Freeze.

“They keep coming up big and really they only gave up 8 points today and you can win a lot of games when your defense does that,” Freeze said.

About Arkansas next week in Fayetteville, Freeze said, “That trip to Arkansas’ always hard, too.”

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si.com

Takeaways: Auburn beats Vanderbilt on the road

Zac Blackerby

3–4 minutes

Auburn is officially on a winning streak.

After earning the first SEC win of the Hugh Freeze era against Mississippi State, the Tigers went on the road and beat Vanderbilt 31-15 on Saturday in Nashville.

It was a lopsided contest where Auburn was able to score on their first offensive play of the game. Jarquez Hunter had two long runs and after that, it was pretty much all Auburn. 

Here are some takeaways from Auburn's win against Vanderbilt.

Auburn's offense lived off of the big play

Jarquez Hunter found the endzone from 67 yards out and 56 yards out in the first quarter. In the third quarter, Payton Thorne found Rivaldo Fairweather for a 53-yard pass for a touchdown to put the game well out of reach against the Commodores. Hunter had 183 rushing yards in Saturday's action. 

The Tigers scored on big plays last week against Mississippi State as well. After several games this season where Auburn couldn't create any sort of production, the Auburn offense seems to be finding a groove down the stretch.

The quarterback rotation seems to be done

Auburn made fans very accustomed to seeing multiple quarterbacks lead the offense so far this season. Over Auburn's last two wins, there has been much less Robby Ashford. Against Mississippi State, Ashford took two snaps. Against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Ashford did not make it into the stat sheet. 

Thorne seems to be playing better and much more comfortable. It could be that he's not concerned with being subbed out and it could be that he's finally understanding what Philip Montogmery and Freeze's system is supposed to look like. 

Seeing Hunter take a direct snap in the red zone before going to Ashford's package in the red zone could be a sign that Thorne will be the full-time quarterback moving forward.

Auburn's defense continues to do what it needs to do

The Auburn defense gave up several first downs on the first drive of the game and stepped up tremendously for the rest of the first half. 

Vanderbilt was 0-7 on third down in the first half. They finished 2-13 on third downs and 0-2 on fourth downs. The Auburn defense would not allow points until the end of the third quarter.

An interception by Nehemiah Pritchett put the game on ice and extended Auburn's streak of forcing a turnover to 18 straight games. 

The Tigers can keep this going

Auburn heads to Arkansas and will aim to extend their win streak to three. The Razorbacks won their first game in SEC play on Saturday in overtime at Florida. Despite being a road game, Auburn will certainly have a chance to help build a four-game winning streak heading into the Iron Bowl at the end of the season.

Freeze's team is improving as the season goes on and the improvement is giving the Tigers a chance in every game they will play for the rest of the season.

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Music City mash: Tigers crush Vanderbilt for first SEC road win

Taylor Jones

5–6 minutes

The Auburn Tigers headed to Nashville in hopes of earning their first SEC road win of the season at Vanderbilt. They managed to get the job done, doing so in a dominating fashion.

The Tigers (5-4, 2-4 SEC) outgained the Commodores (2-8, 0-6 SEC), 424-266, and recorded five total sacks on defense in a 31-15 win.

Auburn started fast with two quick scores in the first quarter and pulled away with a solid defensive effort and two third quarter touchdowns.

The big storyline when reflecting on this game, was the quarterback rotation. After spending the first seven weeks of the season splitting time between Payton Thorne and Robby Ashford, head coach Hugh Freeze elected to give Thorne a majority of the snaps in Auburn’s win over Mississippi State last Saturday. Freeze turned it up a notch in Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt by giving Thorne 100% of the snaps. His day ended with 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Auburn got off to a hot start by jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the 1st quarter.

Vanderbilt put together a solid opening drive that covered 40 yards in nine plays, but it resulted in zero points as Commodores’ kicker Jacob Borcila missed a 43-yard field goal. The missed field goal proved costly as Jarquez Hunter sprinted 67 yards on the second play of Auburn’s ensuing drive to put Auburn on the board, 7-0 with 10:00 remaining in the opening quarter.

Hunter’s incredible run was nearly duplicated two possessions later. Seven minutes after rushing for a 67-yard score, he ran 56 yards to push Auburn’s lead to 14-0 with 3:01 remaining in the quarter. He rushed for 144 yards in last Saturday’s win over Mississippi State, he ended the 1st quarter with 121 yards and two scores on four carries.

Auburn outgained Vanderbilt, 154-83 in the first quarter, with Hunter’s two long runs being the highlights. The Tigers’ defense held both Vanderbilt quarterbacks, Ken Seals and Walter Taylor, to 26 passing yards on five completions.

In a similar fashion to Auburn’s quick 1st quarter start, Vanderbilt had a hot start of their own in the 2nd quarter. On a 3rd down play inside their own five-yard line, Auburn’s Payton Thorne threw an interception to Bryce Cowan which was returned for a touchdown. The five-yard pick-six trimmed Auburn’s lead to 14-7 with 12:15 remaining in the first half.

Both teams traded a few possessions throughout the second quarter before another score was added to the board. Auburn’s Alex McPherson connected on a 32-yard field goal with 0:20 remaining in the half to give the Tigers the 17-7 halftime lead.

Auburn outgained Vanderbilt, 226-93 in the yards department through one half. Hunter remained Auburn’s top rusher with 131 yards on nine carries while Ja'Varrius Johnson led the team in receiving with 23 yards on two catches. Thorne completed 10-of-17 passes for 72 yards in the half, completing at least one pass to five different receivers.

Defensively, DJ James led the team in tackles with six. As a unit, the defense created two quarterback hurries and two tackles for loss.

After struggling offensively in the 2nd quarter, Auburn made adjustments in the locker room that were immediately felt.

Auburn needed just three plays on their first drive of the 3rd quarter to extend the lead to 24-7. Thorne connected with tight end Rivaldo Fairweather for a 53-yard score with 13:36 to go in the quarter. Then, just four minutes later, Thorne flipped the football to freshman Jeremiah Cobb for a five-yard touchdown pass to bump the lead to 31-7 with 9:44 to go in the 3rd.

The 3rd quarter would also see the Commodores’ first offensive touchdown. With 2:43 to go in the quarter, Seals threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Junior Sherill to trim Auburn’s lead to 31-15 following a successful two-point conversion play.

The 3rd quarter was Auburn’s best quarter offensively, as they gained 167 total yards. Thorne cracked the 100-yard mark for the third straight game by passing for 167 yards in the quarter, which brought his total up to 194 to that point.

Neither Auburn nor Vanderbilt posted a score in the first quarter, but a late interception by Nehemiah Pritchett sealed the Auburn win.

Hunter led the team in rushing with a season-high 183 rushing yards on 19 carries while Rivaldo Fairweather and Ja’varrius Johnson each recorded 62 receiving yards. Defensively, DJ James led the team in tackles with seven while five sacks were split between Eugene Asante, Zykevious Walker, Austin Keys, Jalen McLeod, Marcus Harris, and Cam Riley.

Auburn will hit the road for the second straight week next Saturday when they visit the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville for a 3 p.m. CT kickoff. The Razorbacks upset Florida on Saturday in overtime, 36-33.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

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247sports.com

 

Instant Impressions Auburn 31 Vanderbilt 15

Nathan King

7–9 minutes

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NASHVILLE, Tennessee — For the first time since October of 2021, Auburn has won an SEC game on the road.

A pair of explosive Jarquez Hunter touchdowns put Auburn in the driver's seat before a strong defensive performance allowed the Tigers to hold a double-digit lead most of the evening in a 31-15 win — Auburn's first road victory against the Commodores since 2003.

Here are Auburn Undercover's instant impressions from a win that likely locked up a bowl appearance for the Tigers.

Hunter’s bursts offer early lead

Consistent offense was difficult to come by for Auburn. Luckily for the Tigers, they were spotted an early two-touchdown lead thanks to a running back who’s been surging over the past few weeks.

Hunter was going to get his opportunities to hit some home runs against the SEC’s worst rushing defense, and he took full advantage in the opening quarter. Hunter went 67 yards nearly untouched on Auburn’s second play from scrimmage, then had a 56-yard gallop for a touchdown two drives later.

The junior’s 121 rushing yards were the most by an Auburn player in a first quarter since Tre Mason in 2012. On the day, Hunter totaled 183 yards, giving him 418 yards and four touchdowns over his past three games.

The Tigers were the definition of boom-or-bust as a running game, though, as they found little-to-no success on most other rushing attempts aside from Hunter’s explosive scores. Separate from his two touchdowns, Auburn averaged 1.7 yards per carry in the first half and had zero other rushing plays of double-digit yardage.

Auburn found more of a groove on the ground in the second half, with 76 rushing yards after the break.

Decent day for Thorne after early mistake

Auburn thought it had found a rhythm last weekend against Mississippi State, when Thorne had one of the most efficient performances of his career and threw three touchdowns. It took longer than the Tigers would have liked to get things going Saturday, though.

In the second quarter, throwing on third down from his own 4-yard line, Thorne stared down tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, only to be intercepted for a pick-six by Vanderbilt’s Bryce Cowan. And when Auburn was right before halftime, Thorne nearly wiped away a chance at points, when he lofted another pass for Fairweather in the end zone. It was off target, though, and fell right into the arms of De’Rickey Wright — only to be dropped.

For his poor decisions, though, Thorne had a couple nice deep balls that his receivers weren’t able to come up with. Most notably, Thorne was hit as he let the ball go in the second quarter but was still able to put the passing in the hands of Omari Kelly streaking downfield. It slipped right through Kelly’s hands, though.

Thorne looked comfortable pushing the ball downfield all game, though, and it finally paid off when he hit Fairweather for a 53-yard touchdown a few plays into the third quarter. Thorne’s pick-six was a big blemish, but he ended up having a decent day: 17-of-27 for 194 yards, two touchdowns and a pick, with his second passing touchdown coming on a toss sweep to Jeremiah Cobb that put Auburn up 31-7 in the third quarter.

A large chunk of those incompletions were drops, as the Tigers were tagged for five of them in the game.

Despite a couple drops, Johnson had his best game of the season, as the fifth-year senior caught three passes for 62 yards.

Middle eight pushes things out of reach

For as inconsistent as Auburn’s offense was in Nashville, the Tigers found success in the middle eight — the final four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third quarter — and it was ultimately what allowed Auburn to play comfortably and conservatively the rest of the way.

Auburn could have had a touchdown right before the half, as Hunter carried a defender into the end zone on first-and-goal, but tight end Micah Riley was called for a block below the waist — a 15-yard penalty. Thorne then threw the near-pick to Wright, and Auburn came away with 3 points on a chip-shot Alex McPherson field goal.

Then a double-digit lead turned into what felt like an insurmountable one for Vanderbilt, as Thorne found Fairweather running wide-open for a 53-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 24-7.

Auburn's defense sets tone, mostly strong

Yes, Vanderbilt was playing a backup quarterback. But the Tigers still turned in a mostly stout performance on the road.

After Vanderbilt’s opening drive — which picked up three first downs but ended in a 42-yard missed field goal — the Commodores had just one first down the rest of the first half. Of their six straight punts, five were three-and-outs, as Auburn settled in quickly on all three levels of its defense — pressures, pass breakups, tackles in space, all of it was there for Ron Roberts’ unit.

Auburn’s defensive execution was obviously a huge key when the Tigers were in a major lull as an offense in the first half. Vanderbilt only had 10 yards of offense in the second quarter.

Containing Vanderbilt receiver Will Sheppard, who entered the game No. 3 in the SEC with eight touchdowns on the season, was a big factor for Auburn’s defensive game plan, and the Tigers executed masterfully. Between stout coverage from corners D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett, Sheppard only had four catches in the game — two of which came on the first drive of the game. Sheppard's 28-yard catch overtop Keionte Scott on fourth-and-3 was a huge play for Vanderbilt in the fourth quarter, though.

James had a big pass breakup in the end zone, though, on a third down jump ball attempt to Sheppard. Pritchett then intercepted Seals on Vanderbilt's final drive.

Vanderbilt failed to convert its first 10 third downs of the game and didn't get its first until the fourth quarter.

Pass-rusher Jalen McLeod felt particularly effective for Auburn, bringing pressure often from the edge. In the third quarter, he was knocked down at the line of scrimmage, crawled back up and still sacked Vanderbilt QB Ken Seals.

It took until Vanderbilt had a 29-yard run set its offense up at Auburn’s 44-yard line. Seals found Junior Sherrill for a 30-yard touchdown five plays later, and Vanderbilt’s two-point conversion technically brought the game within two possessions at 31-15.

Prior to that 44-yard drive, Vanderbilt had 50 yards across its previous nine possessions.

But the Commodores were able to carry their momentum into another scoring drive — which was easily their most impressive of the game. Seals led Vanderbilt into the red zone, including the big fourth-down conversion to Sheppard, before a 10-yard sack by Cam Riley on first down. James' breakup kept Sheppard out of the end zone, then Vanderbilt went for it on fourth-and-15. Seals' pass floated out of the back of the end zone for a turnover on downs.

And the Vanderbilt drive took 9:04 off the clock, so Vanderbilt's chances to get the ball back late with any chance of getting a meaningful score were essentially eliminated.

Auburn Undercover will update this story. Check back for additional information.

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al.com

3 takeaways from Auburn’s 31-15 win against Vanderbilt

Updated: Nov. 04, 2023, 8:23 p.m.|Published: Nov. 04, 2023, 6:06 p.m.

5–6 minutes

Auburn has won two SEC games in a row, beating Vanderbilt 31-15 on Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee.

It was a weird first half in Vanderbilt’s odd stadium setup amid a major renovation project in both endzones. But Auburn pulled away for good early in the third quarter.

And for a second straight week, it found some success on offense. At least mostly.

Let’s breakdown three keys from the game:

Jarquez Hunter is finally the player Auburn expected him to be

Jarquez Hunter’s situation leading into this season was murky and unclear. He missed the first couple of Auburn fall practices and the opening game against UMass. During the summer, a sex tape was released allegedly showing Hunter. Soon after, Auburn announced some unnamed players were being suspended. It didn’t state why.

There’s still much that’s unknown from that saga. So for the sake of this, we’ll focus on what happened on the field, because it took a while this season for Hunter’s production to get going.

If he was available to play, Hunter came into this season expected to be Auburn’s go-to guy on offense and possibly the team’s best player. But he never had more than 59 yards over his first four games of the year.

Then, over the last three weeks, things have changed. Hunter at last looks like the player Auburn hoped for. He had 91 yards against Ole Miss, 144 yards against Mississippi State and 183 yards against Vanderbilt.

Hunter provided virtually the entirety of Auburn’s first-half offense with a 67-yard touchdown rush and a 56-yard touchdown rush. He showed both his speed and power as a runner on the two long scores.

Auburn’s offense still has flaws — namely the passing game. It’s been a strong rushing team all season even before Hunter gained some momentum. But having him at his best, and getting better as the season goes on, is huge for this offense. He could still be Auburn’s best playmaker — and that’s for an offense that needs a playmaker from anywhere.

The famously big-play-reliant Auburn offense

Auburn had touchdowns of 67 yards, 56 yards and 53 yards. For an Auburn offense that has struggled all season to be dynamic or explosive, it was instead a boom-or-bust offense Saturday.

When it wasn’t scoring a long touchdown, Auburn was averaging closer to three yards a play. Auburn made poor decisions — namely the first-half Payton Thorne interception on a ball that should have absolutely not in any circumstances been thrown. Auburn had bad drops — namely Omari Kelly dropping a pass that could have been a wide-open touchdown.

Drops were actually a serious problem for Auburn in this game. It’s already been a maligned receiver group. Outside of the interception, Thorne played a pretty good game and his receivers did not help him again. This has been a season-long issue not necessarily with drops, but more so just an overall struggling receiver group.

But then that was mixed in with the big plays. Those three touchdowns are also each of Auburn’s three longest-scoring plays of the season. All in one game. Sure, why not.

Now, Vanderbilt also has a bad defense. Its total defense is 115th out of 130 FBS teams in terms of yards allowed per game. So it’s easy to say Auburn took advantage of its competition here. But Auburn hasn’t always done that.

Certainly was not a perfect day for the offense. But it’s a group that has seemed anemic to big plays all season. It finally got some. And if not for drops it could have had more.

Auburn is moving closer to bowl eligibility

This may be the most important takeaway from today. Auburn is now 5-4. It is one win away from bowl eligibility with games against Arkansas, New Mexico State and Alabama remaining.

Auburn will be a heavy favorite against New Mexico State and at this point, beating the Conference USA team is all Auburn needs to go bowling.

Certainly not the time to assume anything. But for that non-conference game to mean something, Auburn had to win two SEC games.

After four straight losses against teams Auburn was expected to lose to, Auburn entered a lighter portion of its schedule with games against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt back-to-back. Auburn’s easiest route of getting to a bowl game required wins in those two games.

Auburn got the job done. It was favored to win each of these games. It is the better team on paper. But Auburn still had to do its part and it did.

Auburn is not at bowl eligibility quite yet, but it has been a much-discussed goal to get a bowl out of this season. And it’s less so about the bowl game itself. It’s more about the practices Auburn will get because it has a bowl game.

This team is young. This team is developing. The coaching staff dearly needs those extra weeks of practice as they try to piece this whole thing together.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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Thanks and War Eagle Fiddy. Read about this one today, little tomorrow then time to move on to Arky. Big challenge this Saturday.