AUBURN, Ala. | The Alabama A&M University football team opened its season on Saturday night and could not recover from three early quick scores as the Bulldogs fell, 73-3, to Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"We knew coming in that we were playing an SEC football team. A good SEC football team," Alabama A&M head coach
Connell Maynor said. "Coach (Hugh) Freeze has done a super job since he's got here recruiting. He had a great class last year and he has the No. 5 class right now for 2025. He's trying to build it through high school kids. He signed three transfers and he's doing it the right way. He's getting kids who want to play and love the game. He has a lot of good football players out there. They showed that tonight.
"What we learned about our team was that we don't quit. We kept fighting even though the score was lopsided. We never gave up. We kept fighting. They had more bullets than we did and kept leaning on us. We were over matched from the start. We have to get back to playing in our conference. We'll be alright. Our guys didn't quit. We have some improvement to do. We'll watch some tape and get better from it. We'll get ready to play next week."
Auburn (1-0) needed just four plays on the opening drive as Jarquez Hunter scored on a 34-yard touchdown run as the Tigers capped a 70-yard drive in just 47 seconds.
After an Alabama A&M punt, Payton Thorne connected with KeAndre Lambert-Smith for 67 yards as the Tigers extended the lead to 14-0 with 12:47 remaining in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs unable to move the ball were forced to punt on their second possession as Thorne found a streaking Cam Coleman for 44 yards as Auburn pushed the advantage to 21-0 with 11:39 left in the period.
Alabama A&M (0-1) had a chance to score on its third possession as
Cornelious Brown IV got a great bounce off an Auburn defender as
Keenan Hambrick caught the deflection for a 56-yard completion as he was dragged down at the Tiger 1. However, a penalty backed the Bulldogs up and had to settle for a 29-yard field goal attempt by
Christian Silverstein as the kick was wide right.
Auburn put the final touches of the quarter with exactly two minutes remaining in the first as Lambert-Smith caught a 4-yard pass from Thorne as the Tigers increased the margin to 28-0.
The Tigers got a 32-yard field goal by Towns McGough and Thorne connected with Perry Thompson for a 70-yard score to extend the lead to 38-0 with 10:10 remaining in the second.
The Bulldogs broke the shutout with six minutes in the first half as
Austin McCready booted his first-ever field attempt, a 43-yarder – as Alabama A&M closed the gap to 38-3.
Auburn tacked on one more score right before the break as the Tigers took a commanding 45-3 lead into the half.
The Tigers cruised in the second half, scoring 14 points in the third and added one final score in the fourth for a 73-3 victory.
CHECKING THE BOX SCORE
- Alabama A&M finished with 242 total yards, including 204 in the air
- The Bulldogs registered 13 first downs
- AAMU went 2-for-16 in third down attempts
- The Bulldogs controlled the time of possession at 41:33
- Cornelious Brown IV went 13 of 27 passing for 182 yards
- Xavier Lankford threw for 22 yards on 3 of 7 passing
- Ryan Morrow collected 18 rushing yards on five carries
- Duke Miller was targeted 10 times, catching six passes for 92 yards
- Marvin Smith registered five tackles, including three solo stops
- Auburn finished with 628 total yards, including 451 passing yards
- The Tigers recorded 18 first downs
- AU went 4-for-6 on third downs
- Auburn held the ball for 18:27
- Payton Thorne went 13 of 21 passing for 322 yards, with four touchdowns
- Thorne also finished with 49 rushing yards and one score on four carries
- Jarquez Hunter rushed four times for 53 yards, with one touchdown
- Malcolm Simmons added five catches for 91 yards and one score
- KeAndre Lambert-Smith recorded four catches for 80 yards
- Jalen McLeod paced the defense with five solo tackles, including one sack
NEWS & NOTES
- Alabama A&M and Auburn met for the third time
- Auburn extended the all-time series record to 3-0
- The Tigers and Bulldogs met for the first time in August
- Auburn's first three scores took just 1:06 off the clock
- Austin McCready booted his first career field goal, a 43-yarder – in the second quarter
- Alabama A&M played two quarterbacks – Cornelious Brown IV (started) and Xavier Lankford
- Saturday's game marked the highest road attended game in AAMU history, 88,043
- The biggest three road attended games are all against Auburn
- The 73 points given up were the most in program history, surpassing the 66 at Georgia Tech in 2013
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs return to action next Saturday with the 14
th Annual Louis Crews Classic at home against Kentucky State. Kickoff against the Thorobreds is set for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on the SWAC Digital Network.
For complete coverage of Alabama A&M Athletics, check out the official homepage at www.aamusports.com. Remember to follow us on social media: Instagram (@aamuathletics), Facebook (aamubulldogathletics), Twitter (@_aamuathletics) and TikTok (aamuathletics).
