It wasn’t pretty the whole time, but Auburn’s offense had its most balanced game of the season against New Mexico.

Auburn scored 45 points and had 503 yards of offense. For the first time this season, the Tigers had more rushing yards than passing yards.

“I’ll take that any Saturday,” Hugh Freeze said of the offensive balance. “With that balance, you could win a lot of football games if you take care of the ball.”

Although Auburn ran for more yards than it threw, there was only a 33-yard difference between rushing and passing yards. That balance eased the pressure on redshirt freshman quarterback Hank Brown in his first career start.

Brown threw for 235 yards and four touchdowns on 17 of 25 passes and looked confident for most of the game. He made a few dangerous throws in the first half but never lost the ball.

Freeze said Auburn would use a smaller offensive package than it did against Cal, which was evident during the game. The game plan was RPO-heavy, with Brown consistently making the right decisions.

The RPOs are also what allowed Auburn to run the ball so well. Jarquez Hunter had a career-high 20 runs and was arguably Auburn’s best player on Saturday.

Hunter ran for 152 yards and a touchdown, averaging 7.1 yards per run.

“When you get the opportunity to throw the ball, you have to make the most of every single one,” Hunter said after the game. “We got the opportunity tonight and I think we took advantage of it pretty well.”

Auburn’s offense and balance were criticized in the loss to Cal. While the Tigers were successful at times running the ball, the constant lag in offense and distance development prevented them from focusing on the run.

On Saturday, they didn’t have that problem and the running backs were able to show what many believed they were always capable of.

“We ran the ball a lot in practice,” Hunter said. “We made the plays, we executed the plays and it just translated into the game.”

Auburn not only showed a balanced running and passing game, the passing game itself also showed a nice balance.

Ten different players caught a pass against New Mexico and Brown’s four touchdown passes went to four different players.

“Anyone can do it. That’s the way we operate,” wide receiver Camden Brown said. “We have so many talented young guys, talented older guys, but we operate with the motto ‘anyone can do it.'”

Camden Brown caught Hank Brown’s first touchdown pass of the game and was Auburn’s leading pass receiver with four catches.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith was Auburn’s best player with 72 yards. He caught Brown’s longest pass of the night for a 50-yard gain down the sideline. It was Brown’s first big throw of the game and a perfectly placed ball that set up a touchdown later in the drive.

Auburn was without star receiver Cam Coleman against New Mexico, but the game showed how deep the roster is. For a young starting quarterback like Brown, it never hurts to have options.

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