Jarquez Hunter rushed for a career-high 278 yards and scored two touchdowns to help Auburn rally to a 24-10 victory over Kentucky on Saturday night in Southeastern Conference play at Lexington, Ky.
Hunter rushed 23 times and had a 45-yard touchdown run in addition to non-scoring runs of 50 and 46 yards as the Tigers (3-5, 1-4 SEC) halted a four-game slide. Hunter’s output is the fourth-best rushing performance in school history behind Curtis Kuykendall (307 yards in 1944), Tre Mason (304 in 2013) and the legendary Bo Jackson (290 in 1985).
Hunter (3,033 yards) also became the sixth player in Auburn history to top 3,000 career rushing yards.
Payton Thorne completed 20 of 26 passes for 172 yards, one touchdown and one interception for Auburn, which won for the 10th consecutive time in Lexington. Kayin Lee hauled in a key interception and KeAndre Lambert-Smith had a scoring catch for the Tigers.
Brock Vandagriff completed 9 of 17 passes for 120 yards and an interception for Kentucky (3-5, 1-5) before being benched for the second half. Gavin Wimsatt played the second half and was 3-of-10 passing for 34 yards and one interception.
Jamarion Wilcox rushed for a touchdown and Dane Key had four catches for 87 yards for the Wildcats, who lost their third straight game.
Auburn outgained Kentucky 302-79 in the second half to finish the game with a 498-224 edge in total yards.
Auburn overcame an early 10-point deficit with 24 unanswered points.
The Tigers struck on Thorne’s 6-yard scoring pass to Lambert-Smith with 10:56 left in the first half. Auburn knotted the score on Alex McPherson’s 27-yard field goal with 3:57 remaining.
The Tigers opened the second half with a dominant 14-play, 75-yard drive that lasted over seven minutes. Hunter capped it by scoring from the Kentucky 1 with 7:53 left in the third quarter as Auburn took the lead for good.
On the Tigers’ next possession, Hunter broke loose for a 50-yard run to the Wildcats 35-yard line. But the drive stalled, and McPherson was wide left on a 47-yard field-goal attempt.
In the fourth quarter, Hunter got free for a 45-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 24-10 lead with 12:11 left in the game.
The Wildcats had a chance to cut their deficit, but Wimsatt had a fourth-down throw intercepted by Lee at the goal line and returned to the Auburn 9 with 4:39 remaining.
Hunter then got loose for a 46-yard run to help put the game away.
Kentucky scored the first 10 points of the game on Alex Raynor’s 46-yard field goal and Wilcox’s 2-yard scoring run.
–Field Level Media
