LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jarquez Hunter had career highs of 278 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the third quarter, Payton Thorne passed for 172 yards and a score and Auburn rallied from a 10-0 deficit with 24 unanswered points to beat Kentucky 24-10 on Saturday night.
After four consecutive losses that included blowing double-digit, fourth-quarter leads against Missouri and Oklahoma, the Tigers (3-5, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) overcame an early deficit with Hunter’s punishing runs and Thorne’s arm. Hunter put Auburn up 17-10 with a 2-yard scoring run midway through the third before blasting a 45-yard TD early in the fourth for a 14-point cushion.
The senior topped his previous highs of 183 yards last November against Vanderbilt and 20 carries against New Mexico on Sept. 14.
Guiding it all was Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, who did not travel with the team on Friday because of a stomach illness but flew up Saturday morning. A football spokesman said Freeze became ill on Friday and experienced nausea, but he recovered to participate in the Tiger Walk into Kroger Field and go through his normal pregame routine before watching Auburn dominate the final 51 minutes.
Thorne completed 20 of 26 passes including a 6-yard score to KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the second quarter to start the remarkable comeback. The Tigers outgained Kentucky 498-224, including 452-140 over the final three quarters, to win their 10th consecutive trip to Lexington dating back to 1966.
Kentucky jumped to a 10-0 lead on its first two drives on Alex Raynor's 46-yard field goal and freshman Jamarion Wilcox's 2-yard TD run, but the Wildcats (3-5, 1-5) dropped their third consecutive game and fifth in seven.
Auburn: Whether this salvages their shaky postseason hopes remains to be seen. The Tigers got a needed lift from their slide and did so in lopsided fashion on both sides of the ball.
Kentucky: Just as the Wildcats seemed poised to put last week's collapse in Florida behind them, they rang up another dud and jeopardized their bowl hopes.
Auburn hosts No. 25 Vanderbilt on Saturday before its second bye of the season.
Kentucky visits No. 7 Tennessee on Saturday.