Despite an ugly loss in Week 2, there was a newfound sense of excitement surrounding Auburn football’s matchup with New Mexico.
Much of that was due to the news of redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown making his first career start against New Mexico. Brown replaced Thorne after the former starter threw four interceptions in the loss to Cal.
Auburn bounced back against New Mexico, earning a 45-19 win. It was far from the prettiest game, but it’s a win Auburn badly needed.
Here are our takeaways:
Hank Brown looks the part
It may have been Brown’s first career start, but the redshirt freshman looked like a veteran.
Hugh Freeze and the offensive staff called some short and quick throws to get him in rhythm on the first drive, but it didn’t take long for Brown to start airing it out.
He connected with KeAndre Lambert-Smith on a perfectly placed deep ball down the sideline for 45 yards on Auburn’s second drive. That chunk play set up a touchdown just a few plays later.
Brown and the offense slowed down later in the first half as heavy rain consumed Jordan-Hare Stadium for a stretch. Auburn was hesitant to keep throwing it in the heavy rain, but Brown had a few poor throws in the second quarter.
After the brief monsoon, Brown eased back into the game. He was nearly flawless in the second half. He wasn’t constantly taking shots or making big throws down the field, but he consistently got the ball out on time and made the correct reads.
He completed his first nine passes of the second half and finished the game with 235 passing yards and four touchdowns on 17-of-25 passing.
There were far fewer risky throws in the second half, and overall Brown brought a sense of stability to the offense.
Rough night for the defense
Freeze described New Mexico’s offense as “scary” in the week leading up to the game and the Lobos lived up to that description against Auburn.
From early on, New Mexico repeatedly found a way to create explosive plays, especially through the air. Quarterback Devon Dampier was the catalyst for most of New Mexico’s big plays, often times with him making throws on the run.
Auburn’s secondary looked vulnerable on numerous occasions through its first two games, and that continued against New Mexico.
New Mexico wasn’t afraid to attack Auburn’s man coverage and won on routes down the field consistently early on.
Kayin Lee didn’t play in the game, meaning Keionte Scott and Champ Anthony were Auburn’s two starting corners. Antonio Kite rotated in at corner too and had an interception, but also got beat one-on-one a few times.
It was also the first time so far this season that Auburn struggled to stop the run. Poor tackling was one of the issues there, with the most egregious example coming on a 15-yard scramble from Dampier where he evaded multiple tacklers in the backfield before running for a first down.
New Mexico had 293 yards of total offense in the first half alone. Dampier’s mobility clearly seemed to give Auburn’s defense problems; a weakness Arkansas could exploit next week.
Freeze called Auburn’s defense “very sloppy” when speaking to the ESPN broadcast before the start of the fourth quarter. Despite forcing two turnovers and holding New Mexico to 19 points, that description seemed accurate.
An uninspiring night overall
Against a Group of 5 opponent, it was going to take a lot to change how people feel about this Auburn team.
Saturday’s performance likely wasn’t enough. Auburn did enough to win, but outside of Brown’s debut, there wasn’t much to create more excitement among the fanbase.
Auburn starts SEC play next week, and while Arkansas, its first opponent, isn’t setting the world on fire, there’s reason to be concerned about this Auburn team facing SEC competition.
The Tigers didn’t do anything positive in Saturday’s game that it hadn’t done before, but the defense’s struggles raised a new concern. Auburn’s rushing offense and Brown’s poise were small positives, but New Mexico came into the game with statistically the worst defense in the FBS.
Most importantly, Auburn got the win, avoiding the fate it suffered against a different New Mexico school last season. With that said, a win next week will go much further towards changing people’s minds about this team.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
