NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Auburn football came into the Music City Bowl with momentum.
The Tigers are a little more than a week removed from signing 18 scholarship recruits in the Class of 2024, a haul that currently ranks No. 7 in the country and is good for a team score from 247Sports of 282.19, the second-best mark in program history in the modern recruiting era.
But that off-field energy didn’t translate to on-field production, as the Tigers fell behind early against Maryland (8-5) in Nissan Stadium on Saturday and could never recover from the 21-point hole they put themselves in, losing 31-13, to end coach Hugh Freeze’s first year on the Plains with three straight losses.
Auburn (6-7) has finished with a record under .500 for three consecutive seasons, which is the first time that’s happened since it went a combined 11-20-2 from 1975-77.
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By the numbers: A horrific 1Q for Auburn football
By the end of the first frame, the Terrapins were on pace for more than 1,000 yards of offense.
Maryland totaled 226 yards in the first quarter to Auburn’s 42, and coach Mike Locksley’s team averaged 11.9 yards per play on 19 snaps. Quarterback Payton Thorne completed just two of his seven throws during the game’s first 15 minutes, and Auburn’s third-leading rusher was punter Oscar Chapman, who picked up 10 yards and a first down and a fake.
New-look secondary struggles
Much of Maryland’s early flurry of production came through the air, as both of its QBs — starter Billy Edwards Jr. and reserve Cam Edge — were a combined 9-for-16 at halftime for 201 yards and two touchdowns. The Terrapins hit Auburn with six completions of fifteen or more yards in the first couple of quarters, including a 61-yard screen on the opening possession to set them up for their first score.
Edwards and Edge, playing in place of the opted-out Taulia Tagovailoa, sliced up an Auburn secondary that was severely shorthanded, as starting cornerbacks DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett both opted out of the game. Jaylin Simpson, who Freeze said Dec. 16 was nursing a hamstring injury, didn’t play, either.
Rivaldo Fairweather caps impressive season
Tight end Rivaldo Fairweather finished with five catches for 45 yards, giving him a season total of 48 catches and 394 yards. The former is a new single-season record for an Auburn TE, and the latter places him 19 yards short of John Samuel Shenker’s record (413).
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
