Auburn entered Saturday with a four-game losing streak. That’s over now. Auburn entered Saturday with a string of consecutive putrid offensive performances in a row that made up the worst stretch of head coach Hugh Freeze’s coaching career.

That, too, seemed to end Saturday.

Auburn beat Mississippi State 27-13 Saturday for a win it just absolutely had to have in order to get back to 4-4 overall, 1-4 in the SEC and into considerable hope for an appearance in a bowl game at the end of this season.

Let’s get into grades. It’s the best report card for Auburn in a month.

Offense: A-

Well, how much better that was. Auburn, finally, finally, had a productive day passing the ball against a Power 5 defense. Sure, it’s easy to critique Mississippi State for not exactly having a great passing defense, but Auburn has faced other bad pass defenses in the last two weeks — LSU and Ole Miss — and greatly struggled.

Saturday, that didn’t happen. Auburn threw for 230 total yards. Payton Thorne completed 77% of his passes and threw for three touchdowns. Eleven different Auburn pass catchers had a reception.

Running back Jarquez Hunter also had his best day of the year, eclipsing 100 rushing yards. It was the big day he’s long been searching for. Auburn went over 400 total yards of offense in the win, too. It had almost seven yards per play as a group, almost 12 yards per completion and was much better with regard to time of possession compared to previous weeks.

Though, what may have been most notable from this offense was a much smaller quarterback rotation than had been seen in previous weeks. Auburn committed to riding Payton Thorne and what appeared to be his hot hand. It worked.

Auburn played with a higher tempo and allowed its starting quarterback to get into a rhythm. Head coach Hugh Freeze said after the game that this week was time to finally time to figure out the quarterback situation. This option, the Thorne-heavy option, succeeded.

The main critique here is the offense getting so conservative in the second half. It slowed down the tempo it played with and wasn’t as effective. Though Hugh Freeze had a good reason for why that happened. More on that in the coaching section.

It’s hard to grade this lower than an A because of the circumstances. It’s not as if this was some sort of program-changing offensive outburst, but it was easily the best the offense has looked this season — especially when considering this isn’t against a non-FBS team like Samford.

Defense: B

This fits what’s become a typical mold for this defense in SEC play. It’s a bend, but don’t break defense that can hold opponents down in stretches.

Auburn did that again Saturday when it held Mississippi State to 122 yards in the first half.

But like it has in previous SEC games, the defense gave out in the latter portions. Auburn allowed 223 yards in the second half. That gave Mississippi State some hope of coming back into the game.

Zion Puckett stepped up with an interception to essentially ice the game in the second half, but its a closer score than Auburn fans may have liked given how well the offense finally played.

This was the first time in weeks, if not just the first time this season, that the defense got help from the offense. Linebacker Eugene Asante and cornerback Keionte Scott both had great games, much in the line of the types of strong games they’ve had throughout their respective time healthy in 2023.

More in the bit below about coaching on why the defense may have faltered a bit late.

Special teams: B

You’ve read this before about Auburn’s special teams. Alex McPherson made his kicks and Oscar Chapman punted well.

McPherson hit a 49-yard and 39-year field goal. Chapman averaged a just bit over 47 yards per punt in five punts.

But Auburn hasn’t seen much productivity from its return game recently. That could come down, in part, to opponents not punting directly to Auburn’s stellar returners.

There hasn’t been a special return from someone like Brian Battie in a few weeks. Auburn could use some help here.

Coaching: A-

For the past two weeks, the Auburn coaches have gotten failing grades here largely with regard to failing to make adjustments.

Auburn made adjustments on Saturday. We’re they perfect? No. Did Auburn at least try something different? Yes. Did it work? Mostly!

Let’s focus on the key area where Auburn made a change: quarterback.

This game saw among the least amount of quarterback rotation Auburn has had all season. And, considering the opponent, it led to Payton Thorne’s best passing game of the season.

Auburn’s other game with limited quarterback rotation was Samford which, until Saturday, was probably Auburn’s best overall game of the season.

Robby Ashford didn’t attempt a pass Saturday on only rushed the ball twice. This isn’t to say Auburn should just ride Payton Thorne without using Ashford at all. Ashford certainly has a role because of his athleticism and Freeze has said as much.

Freeze has also said Ashford’s role will change week-to-week, so it’s possible this just fit into whatever gameplan Auburn thought was best for beating Mississippi State. Regardless, it strayed from the game plan Auburn had used in its four previous losses and allowed Auburn to find success passing the ball.

Auburn also relied a bit more on the higher tempo offense Freeze has hinted could be successful at, albeit knowing it leaves the defense to potentially be on the field for longer. But Auburn found success doing this in the first half.

It’s the first time in weeks that this coaching staff made a change that could further identity the team’s offense identity.

Overall: B+

Auburn needed this win. It had to end its losing streak. It had to get back in position to be bowl-eligible.

It did both of those things.

Behind a performance from the offense that instilled a lot of hope, Auburn is now 4-4.

In order to get to a bowl game, all it has to do is beat Vanderbilt and New Mexico State. Auburn should be able to do that. And getting to a bowl game at all is a step in the right direction for this team.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]