Auburn suffers 31-10 home loss to New Mexico State
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze reacts to a flag during the first half of an NCAA college football game against New Mexico State Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
New Mexico State recorded its first-ever win over an SEC team with its 31-10 victory over Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.
Diego Pavia passed for 201 yards and three touchdowns and New Mexico State scored the upset. New Mexico State (9-3) outscored the Tigers (6-5) 21-3 in the second half after coming in as 23-1/2-point underdogs.
The Aggies, which have already clinched a spot in the Conference USA championship game against No. 25 Liberty, had lost their first 27 meetings against SEC teams.
“You don’t get many opportunities like this,” New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill said. “We’re playing a Southeastern Conference football team and we really dominated the football game most of the time.”
The former Minnesota coach called it “one of the biggest wins New Mexico State’s had in a long time” and “one of the greatest wins I’ve ever been part of.”
Kill’s team put this one away with two successful gambles in the fourth quarter. New Mexico State converted a fake punt from its own territory on the opening play of the fourth quarter.
Then Pavia hit Eli Stowers for a 2-yard touchdown on another fourth-down gamble to make it 24-7. That ended a 16-play, 83-yard drive that worked 9:58 off the clock and left Auburn’s struggling offense little chance to get back in it.
Auburn was coming off a 48-10 win over Arkansas in its most complete performance under first-year coach Hugh Freeze.
“It was the exact opposite today,” Freeze said. “It’s very disappointing. Our university deserves a better effort than that.”
Asked if his team had prepared for fake punts, Freeze only nodded and said, “Yep.”
Pavia completed 19 of 28 passes and also ran eight times for 35 yards. Stowers lined up at both quarterback and tight end and ran for 19 yards while catching four passes for 48 yards.
Payton Thorne completed 15 of 19 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown for Auburn while gaining 38 yards on 17 runs.
The Aggies quieted the Jordan-Hare Stadium with an opening drive capped by Pavia’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Kordell David in a drive helped out by a pair of pass interference penalties. Auburn fans didn’t have a whole lot to cheer about the rest of the way.
New Mexico State got a whopping payday for the game — and a big win.
“How about that, $1.7 million and we won the game,” Kill said, smiling.
The Aggies outgained Auburn 414-213 and held onto the ball for nearly 39 minutes.
Freeze’s first Auburn team had won three straight games, all against SEC teams while allowing only a combined 38 points during that stretch. New Mexico State nearly matched that. The Tigers ran for just 65 yards on 26 carries.
Up next, Auburn hosts No. 8 Alabama in the Iron Bowl. The No. 8 Crimson Tide scored a commanding 66-10 win over Chattanooga at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday, for its ninth straight victory.
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
