AUBURN — It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Auburn football.
Winners of three straight, the Tigers had momentum heading into the Iron Bowl against Alabama. All they had to do was get by New Mexico State, a team that’s exceeded expectations in 2023, but one that’s also a Group of Five program at the end of the day.
Perhaps Auburn (6-5) looked by the Aggies (9-3). Whatever the case, the Tigers suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday, falling to New Mexico State, 31-10.
Aggies quarterback Diego Pavia was the key for NMSU, as he completed 19 of his 28 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 35 yards and kept countless plays alive with legs.
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A terribly slow start
The beginning of Auburn’s blowout win over Arkansas on Nov. 11 couldn’t have been better. Payton Thorne trampled a defensive back to score an opening-possession touchdown, the defense forced a three-and-out and Keionte Scott took a punt return 74 yards to the house right off the bat.
That was far from the case against New Mexico State. After each team logged two drives, the Aggies led in total yards (126-35), first downs (8-1), plays (19-9) and yards per play (6.6-3.9). New Mexico State wasn’t just hanging with the Tigers, it was straight up outplaying them.
Kill the clock
The Aggies and coach Jerry Kill aren’t naive. They knew coming in that Auburn was the more talented team, and they structured their game plan around that.
New Mexico State ran 32 plays in the first half compared to Auburn’s 23. The Aggies also won the time-of-possession battle, 19:36-10:24. The main difference between the two sides, aside from execution, was that it took New Mexico State an average of 36.75 seconds to run a play in the opening 30 minutes. It took Auburn 27.13 seconds.
The Aggies had a plan, stuck to it and deployed it effectively.
No run game
After Jarquez Hunter rushed for 527 yards over his last four games, New Mexico State limited him to a mere 27 yards on eight rushes. Thorne ended up being Auburn’s leading rusher with 38 yards.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
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