Auburn earns first SEC victory of the season against Kentucky

Oct 26, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter (27) carries the ball during the second quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

It took until the final week of October, but the Auburn Tigers (3-5) finally won a conference football game. After trailing 10-0 after the first frame, the Tigers responded with 24 unanswered points, earning their first SEC win of the season over Kentucky (3-5) to give themselves a fighter’s chance at earning bowl eligibility.

It looked like it would be the same old story for the Tigers early on after Kentucky followed up an opening scripted drive field goal with a quick touchdown to take a 10-0 lead, but Auburn’s defense, specifically defensive end Keldric Faulk, stepped up in a major way for the remainder of the contest. Despite the defense finding some footing, Auburn’s offense struggled to put together any consistency early, ultimately going scoreless for the first quarter-plus.

The Tigers would score in every quarter remaining however. After a miss-hit punt by Kentucky punter Aiden Laros set up Auburn near mid field early in the second quarter, the Tigers took advantage with a quartet of punishing runs by the backfield duo of Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston to set up an eventual KeAndre Lambert-Smith touchdown to put the Tigers on the board early in the second stanza. Auburn would add an Evan McPherson field goal before the quarter expired, leading to a 10-10 deadlock entering the half.

Much like the second quarter, the final 30-minutes of Saturday’s contest was all Auburn. The Tigers scored another 14 second half points off the back of a career-best night from senior Jarquez Hunter, who would go on to rush for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns. Now the leading rusher in the SEC, Hunter added 19 receiving…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/auburn-earns-first-sec-victory-032436471.html

Author : Auburn Wire

Publish date : 2024-10-27 03:24:36

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