The Auburn Tigers got back of the winning side of things in week three.
Redshirt freshman Hank Brown led his team to a bounce-back, lopsided victory in front of the Auburn family in the final tune-up before SEC play, and Hugh Freeze's team now heads into the meat of their schedule with 2 wins and a single loss.
While Auburn's defense raised some concerns in victory, the Tigers offense hummed all night long behind Hank Brown. The Nashville, Tennessee native was decisive, accurate, and lethal on his way to 235 passing yards and a quartet of touchdowns. Auburn's rushing attack was almost just as impressive, with Jarquez Hunter setting a career-high in attempts (20) and season-high in yards (152) to go along with an impressive 10-carry, 80-yard outing from backup Damari Alston, offensive coordinator Derrick Nix may have finally seen the best version of what he envisioned for the Tigers in the months leading up to the season.
With an abundance of offensive fireworks and some unbelievable defensive and special teams plays, the Tigers had plenty of highlights in the win. Here are the five that stood out the most on Saturday.
While Auburn's defense received plenty of backlash and "mean tweets" during Saturday night's win, Tiger fans, and football fans everywhere, were left speechless after Tigers safety Jerrin Thompson provided the highlight of the young season early in the contest. With New Mexico quarterback Devin Dampier backed up on the own end of his field, the sophomore tried to play improveser by escaping the pocket and delivering a cross-body throw to his receiver.
Jerrin "Bug" Thompson was all over it, flying over the top of Lobos wide receiver Luke Wysong to trap the football on top of his helmet before securing it for an interception. The play was astounding enough to earn the Pop-Tarts 'Crazy Good' Play of the Week, and more importantly, set up an Auburn scoring drive.
It did not take long at all for redshirt freshman Hank Brown to impress Tigers fans everywhere with his accuracy on Saturday night. After connecting on mostly short-to-intermediate throws early on, Hugh Freeze trusted his young quarterback enough to send his No. 1 deep threat KeAndre Lambert-Smith on a go-route down the sideline.
Brown came through for his play caller, placing a wonderfully placed, high arching deep ball in the breadbasket on his intended target. The throw, and the wherewithal of Lambert-Smith to come down with the ball in stride, instilled the confidence Brown needed to continue his highly impressive first career-start on the Plains.
When Hugh Freeze took over as the play-caller for the Auburn offense fans expected to see some very creative, electrifying plays on the Plains. We saw glimpses of what his offense could look like on Saturday. One of those came early in the second half with the Tigers clinging to a 4-point lead.
On second and goal, Hank Brown sent tight end Rivaldo Fairweather in motion from the outside. With his defender following him, Auburn's young quarterback recognized man-to-man defense, allowing Fairweather to run a simple stick route, taking away two Lobos defenders and freeing up Auburn backup tight end Micah Riley's drag pattern over the top. Brown did the rest, holding onto the football long enough despite pressure bearing down on him, before delivering a perfect ball to the corner of the endzone where only Riley could come down with it.
Hank Brown was impressive on Saturday night, but Auburn's running game certainly helped offset the burden on their quarterback's shoulders. Running back's Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston combined to carry the ball 30 times for 232 yards and a pair of scores in the win. The most impressive run of the night came from Alston with the Tigers driving minutes before the halftime whistle.
On a second down and long, Auburn guard Jeremiah Wright and center Conner Lew set up a gaping hole for their speedy back, allowing Alston to do the rest on his way to a near 30-yard gain. Lew was the key to the play, as he began by helping Wright seal his man before moving onto the second level and sealing off a Lobos linebacker without holding.
Camden Brown is a veteran wide receiver that has plenty of talent. Unfortunately, he's found himself towards the outside of the depth chart because of the influx of pass catching aptitude in Auburn's offense.
That may have worked in his, and Auburn's, favor on Saturday night as the junior consistently looked comfortable with Hank Brown under center. It's very possible the two developed a strong connection on the practice field that carried over into the redshirt freshman's first career-start, and that connection paid off immediately early in the game, with the Browns trusting one another on a tight, slant pattern that was run to perfection.