Despite an ugly loss in Week 2, there was renewed excitement surrounding the Auburn football team’s game against New Mexico.

That was largely due to the news that redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown will make his first career start against New Mexico. Brown replaced Thorne after the former starter threw four interceptions in the loss to Cal.

Auburn rebounded against New Mexico, winning 45-19. It wasn’t the prettiest game by far, but it was a win Auburn desperately needed.

Here are our findings:

Hank Brown looks good

Although it was Brown’s first career start, the redshirt freshman looked like a veteran.

Hugh Freeze and his offensive team called some short and quick throws to get him in rhythm on the first drive, but it didn’t take long before Brown started blowing the ball up.

On Auburn’s second drive, he threw a perfectly placed long ball 45 yards down the sideline to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, a play that led to a touchdown just a few plays later.

Brown and the offense slowed down later in the first half when heavy rain hit Jordan-Hare Stadium for a while. Auburn was hesitant to keep throwing in the heavy rain, but Brown had a few bad throws in the second quarter.

After the brief monsoon, Brown slowly found his way back into the game. In the second half, he was almost flawless. He didn’t shoot all the time or make long throws across the field, but he always got the ball out in time and read it correctly.

He completed his first nine passes of the second half and finished the game with 235 passing yards and four touchdowns on 17 of 25 passes.

There were significantly fewer risky shots in the second half and overall Brown brought a sense of stability to the offense.

Tough night for the defense

Freeze described New Mexico’s offense as “terrifying” the week before the game, and the Lobos lived up to that description against Auburn.

New Mexico found ways to create explosive plays early on, especially through the air. Quarterback Devon Dampier was the catalyst for most of New Mexico’s big plays, often making throws on the run.

Auburn’s secondary looked vulnerable several times in the first two games, and that continued against New Mexico.

New Mexico was not afraid to attack Auburn’s man coverage and regularly won on its runs down the field from the start.

Kayin Lee did not play, meaning that Keionte Scott and Champ Anthony were Auburn’s two starting corners. Antonio Kite also played as a corner and had one interception, but was also beaten a few times in one-on-one situations.

It was also the first time this season that Auburn had trouble stopping the run. Poor tackling was one of the problems. The worst example was a 15-yard run by Dampier where he evaded several tacklers in the backfield before running for a first down.

New Mexico totaled 293 yards of offense in the first half alone. Dampier’s mobility seemed to cause problems for Auburn’s defense, a weakness Arkansas could exploit next week.

Freeze called Auburn’s defense “very sloppy” on the ESPN broadcast before the start of the fourth quarter. Even though they forced two turnovers and held New Mexico to 19 points, that description seemed accurate.

Overall, a less than inspiring night

Against a Group of Five opponent, it took a lot to change people’s opinions about this Auburn team.

Saturday’s performance probably wasn’t good enough. Auburn did enough to win, but aside from Brown’s debut, there wasn’t much to get fans more excited.

Auburn begins SEC play next week, and while its first opponent, Arkansas, isn’t exactly making a splash, there’s reason to be concerned about this Auburn team facing SEC competition.

The Tigers didn’t do anything positive in Saturday’s game that they hadn’t done before, but the defense’s woes were a new concern. Auburn’s offensive tactics and Brown’s composure were small positives, but New Mexico had the worst defense in the FBS statistically.

Most importantly, Auburn won, avoiding the fate it suffered last season against another school in New Mexico, but a win next week will do a lot more to change people’s minds about this team.

Peter Rauterkus reports on sports in Auburn for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or send him an email to [email protected]M