Jarquez Hunter was fed up.
The shining light on what was an otherwise poor Auburn team through seven weeks, the All-SEC running back wanted to see his personal success translate to team success.
For four games in a row, it had not, but against Kentucky Hunter had the best game of his career, running head first into a career high 278 yards and Auburn’s first Power 4 win of the season.
It looked as if Hunter was running angry. Consistently taking defenders head on and winning the battle more often than not, Kentucky struggled to find an answer. When asked if he had any extra motivation, Hunter answer was simple.
“I got tired of losing,” he said. “I told coach, ‘we’re going to find a way to win this game and it doesn’t matter how we do it or how it gets done.’”
That’s exactly what Hunter and Auburn did. After going down 10-0 in the first quarter, Auburn shutout Kentucky, with the offense gaining 498 yards, 326 coming on the ground.
Hunter‘s 278 rushing yards were the fourth most in Auburn history, and the most by an Auburn player since Tre Mason’s 304 in the 2013 SEC Championship game.
“That’s a phenomenal night and credit goes to the guys up front and obviously the way he ran it along the other tailbacks too, Damari had some good runs also,” Hugh Freeze said after the game.
Hunter averaged 12.1 yards per rush, breaking off runs of 45, 46 and 50 in the game. He was everything Auburn needed in its rushing attack, consistently converting in short yardage situations while also breaking off big runs.
“Getting the dirty three when he needs to and then also popping off a big one,” Payton Thorne said, “it makes things easier.”
While Hunter ended up becoming the story of the game, Auburn’s slow start came with him hardly getting a look on offense.
He carried the ball once in the first quarter as Auburn found itself down 10-0 and getting outgained by Kentucky 115-38. When Auburn began running the ball, the offense found a rhythm.
The Tigers averaged eight yards per carry on their first touchdown drive, and when Freeze and the offensive staff figured out what was working, they didn’t go back.
In the final three quarters, Auburn ran the ball 47 times compared to just 15 passes.
Freeze said after the game that they made a point to pass the ball in the beginning due to Kentucky‘s often good rush defense, but knew establishing the run was important. Once Auburn did. Kentucky couldn’t stop it.
“I think it speaks highly of our O-line, our running backs, our tight ends and our coaching staff,” Freeze said.
It was also just the second time in Hunter’s career he had 20 or more carries in a game. Freeze has talked at times about needing to get the ball to Hunter more and Saturday showed what Hunter is capable when he gets consistent touches.
For Hunter, a big part of the performance was patience.
“That’s the big key of the run game,” he said. “You have to let the blocks develop that the o-line and tight ends give you.”
It wasn’t just about being patient in the backfield, though. With previous losses where Hunters touches were limited, he had to be patient to let a game like this happen.
Hunter did, and both he and Auburn were rewarded for it.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
