Auburn got a nice bounce back win against New Mexico Saturday night, winning 45-19 in a final tune up before conference play.
It was also redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown’s first career start, replacing former starter Payton Thorne.
It wasn’t always the prettiest performance from Auburn, but the Tigers handled business in a rain-soaked Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Here’s how we graded the performance:
Offense
Grade: B+
Grading Auburn’s offense against New Mexico wasn’t easy.
On one hand, Auburn scored 45 points and gained 503 total yards with a first-time starter at quarterback. On the other, it came against statistically the worst defense in the FBS, and the Tigers still had some ball security issues.
Auburn fumbled twice on offense, losing one of them. Otherwise, the offense was solid. The Tigers were efficient in both the run and pass, finishing with more rushing than passing yards for the first time this season.
Brown was solid in his starting debut too. He threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns on 17-of-25 passing and didn’t throw any interceptions. Given the opposition, there are still things to improve, but overall, Auburn had a good day offensively.
Defense
Grade: C-
Despite the win, Saturday was probably Auburn’s worst defensive performance of the season so far.
The Tigers gave up a season high 448 total yards and struggled to slow down dual threat New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier. The secondary continued to show weakness too, with the corners still struggling in one-on-one coverage.
It was also the first time this season a team had consistent success running the ball on Auburn’s defensive front. New Mexico rushed for 157 yards and averaged six yards per rush.
The positive was Auburn’s ability to finally create turnovers. Auburn’s defense intercepted Dampier twice, forcing its first two turnovers of the season.
It wasn’t an awful performance from the defense on Saturday, but given the opposition, it wasn’t a performance that instills much confidence.
Special Teams
Grade: B-
Auburn’s special teams had exciting moments against New Mexico, most notably a 66-yard kick return by Jeremiah Cobb. It also had some mistakes.
The biggest mistake was a muffed punt by Keionte Scott, his second of the season. Unlike his first muff, though, Auburn was unable to recover, giving New Mexico great field position at the time.
Special teams penalties were an issue at times for Auburn too as both teams were penalized a lot throughout the game.
Kicker Towns McGough had another solid game, making his one field goal and converting each of his six extra points.
Auburn created excitement on kick returns, but there were too many sloppy mistakes to grade special teams any higher.
Coaching
Grade: B
The offensive gameplan was nicely put together by Freeze and the offensive staff, not putting too much on Brown in his first career start.
The play calling on offense didn’t raise too many concerns throughout the game. If not for a fumble in New Mexico territory, Auburn easily could have scored over 50 points and the gameplan played no small part in that performance.
Defensively, Auburn didn’t look completely prepared for offense New Mexico and quarterback Devon Dampier could throw at it. Freeze said the defense looked tired during the game and much of that comes down to preparation.
Despite that, there weren’t any noticeably bad coaching decisions, and Auburn found a way to pull away from New Mexico in the second half.
Overall
Grade: B-
Saturday was a good, but not great performance from Auburn.
The Tigers looked much better in the second half, outscoring New Mexico 28-6, but it took two scrappy, and at times ugly, quarters to get there. The pouring rain that took over Jordan-Hare Stadium for parts of the game didn’t help, but that wasn’t a challenge exclusive to Auburn.
Against this level of opposition, there’s not much that could have been done to change this team’s perception. Getting Brown’s feet wet as a starter was the biggest positive for Auburn in this game and the Tigers will hope he can build on that performance as it welcomes Arkansas to the plains next week.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
