Earlier in the week, we called this a must-win for the Auburn Tigers over the lowly Mississippi State Bulldogs, and Hugh Freeze and company responded with their best offensive performance of the season.
For all the noise around Payton Thorne and the offense the past couple of weeks, Thorne was phenomenal today. Freeze got away from the two-quarterback system with Robby Ashford not being put in the game at all once Thorne started hot and stayed hot.
The Tigers got started off right on the first drive of the game with an 8 play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended in a Payton Thorne 27-yard touchdown pass to Shane Hooks for Hooks’ second score of the season.
Shane Hooks 27 yd touchdown! #wde pic.twitter.com/95iAlgydu5
— Power of Dixieland (@PwrofDixieland) October 28, 2023
Auburn’s second drive was even better, going for 5 plays and 75 yards for a touchdown on perhaps Thorne’s best throw of the entire season to date, a 45-yard dime to Ja’Varrius Johnson:
Easy as you please: Payton Thorne to Ja’Varrius Johnson for the touchdown
pic.twitter.com/X8OBCC634W— Auburn Gold Mine (@AUGoldMine) October 28, 2023
Jeremiah Cobb caught Thorne’s third touchdown of the first half on a beautiful goal line toss in the final seconds of the half to put Auburn up 24-3 at half:
Payton Thorne to Jeremiah Cobb
Touchdown Auburn pic.twitter.com/rOvVQAu5lu
— Auburn Gold Mine (@AUGoldMine) October 28, 2023
Thorne finished 20/26 with 230 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The defense was also phenomenal for the Tigers today, forcing Mike Wright to complete only 50% of his passes as well as a 4th quarter interception to seal the win.
With 416 total yards as a team, the first SEC win of the Hugh Freeze era was a good one. Time will tell if Auburn can build on the win with a road trip to Vanderbilt next week in another winnable game.
Follow Michael Brauner on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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