SEC football final: Auburn 24, Kentucky 10
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Game day: Auburn 24, Kentucky 10
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Auburn football game in Lexington.
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Hoping to snap a six-game home losing streak in SEC games, the Kentucky Wildcats play host to the Auburn Tigers on Saturday at Kroger Field. The game will be televised by the SEC Network starting at 7:45 p.m.
Coach Mark Stoops’ Wildcats are 3-4 overall with a 1-4 mark in the SEC this season. They haven’t won a conference home game since Sept. 30, 2023, when the Cats beat the Florida Gators 33-14. Since then, UK has lost at home to league foes Missouri (38-21), Tennessee (33-27) and Alabama (49-21) in 2023 and South Carolina (31-6), Georgia (13-12) and Vanderbilt (20-13) in 2024.
Coach Hugh Freeze’s Tigers are 2-5 overall, including 0-4 in league play. Missouri drove 95 yards on 17 plays to score with 46 seconds left and beat Auburn 21-17 last Saturday. Giving the ball away has been Auburn’s problem. Freeze’s team ranks 127th out of 134 FBS teams in turnover margin.
Jon Hale, Mark Story and yours truly will be at Kroger Field reporting on the action. Follow us on Twitter at @JonHale_HL, @markcstory and @johnclayiv.
You can follow a dedicated X/Twitter list on Kentucky football by clicking here.
Final: Auburn 24, Kentucky 10
Auburn win its first SEC game of the season while Kentucky finishes 0-4 in league play at home. It’s the seventh straight home loss for the Cats.
Auburn extends lead to two touchdowns
Jarquez Hunter burst up the middle for a 45-yard touchdown run to put Auburn up 24-10 on Kentucky with 12:11 left in the game. The Tigers drove 80 yards on nine plays. Their three second-half possessions have produced a touchdown, missed field goal and another touchdown.
End of 3Q: Auburn 17, Kentucky 10
Auburn outgained Kentucky 155-6 in the third quarter.
Auburn takes a 17-10 lead
Auburn opened the second half by driving 75 yards on 14 plays to take a 17-10 lead. Jarquez Hunter did the honors from a yard out with 7:53 left in the third quarter. Of the 14 plays, 11 were on the ground. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze apparently decided at halftime he was going to run right at the Cats. And it worked.
Halftime: Kentucky 10, Auburn 10
Auburn moved the ball from its own 13 to the Kentucky 14 in the waning minutes of the first half. But UK’s J.J. Weaver sacked Payton Thorne and the Tigers failed to get their field goal unit on the field before the clock ran out. So first half ends in a 10-10 tie.
Auburn ties the score 10-10
UK’s Brock Vandagriff threw his fifth interception, this one picked off by Auburn’s Keyron Crawford at the Tigers’ 37-yard line. The visitors capitalized on the turnover by driving to a 27-yard field goal by Alex McPherson that tied the score at 10-10 with 3:57 left in the first half.
After a fast start, Kentucky’s offense has stalled. The strategy of bringing in Gavin Wimsatt for wildcat snaps intermittently during series does not appear to be working as planned.
Auburn gets on the board
A pass interference penalty against Kentucky allowed Auburn to convert a third-and-two. The Tigers took it from there with quarterback Payton Thorne hitting KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 6-yard touchdown pass. Kentucky’s lead is now 10-7 with 10:56 left in the first half.
End of 1Q: Kentucky 10, Auburn 0
Kentucky outgained Auburn 115-38 in the first quarter on the way to a 10-0 lead. UK wide receiver Dane Key made two catches for 55 yards. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff completed 6 of 10 passes for 84 yards.
Kentucky extends lead to 10-0
UK wide receiver Dane Key is putting on a contested-catch clinic. On UK’s first possession, Key made a terrific catch of a Brock Vandagriff throw for a 21-yard gain that helped set up a field goal. Second possession, Key made a brilliant sideline 34-yard catch at the Auburn 26-yard line. Freshman running back Jason Patterson then went 23 yards to the Tigers 3-yard line. Two plays later, Jamarion Wilcox scored on a 2-yard run with 8:24 left in the quarter to give Kentucky a 10-0 lead.
Kentucky takes early 3-0 lead
A 21-yard pass from quarterback Brock Vandagriff to wide receiver Dane Key put Kentucky in position for a 46-yard field goal by Alex Raynor 46-yard field goal on the game’s opening possession. Wearing their chrome helmets, the Cats lead Auburn 3-0 with 11:28 left in the first quarter. Raynor is now 12-of-1 2 on field goals for the season.
This story was originally published October 26, 2024 at 6:30 PM.
