SEC Football by the Numbers: Auburn top 10 for 2022

SEC Football by the Numbers: Auburn top 10 for 2022

Auburn posted a 5-7 record during the 2022 season, including a 2-6 mark in SEC play. Here are 10 numbers that illustrate the Tigers’ most recent campaign:

0 Teams played a tougher schedule during the 2022 regular season than Auburn, according to the NCAA’s rankings. The Tigers’ opponents in 2022 finished with a 98-46 record against other NCAA FBS programs (minus their result versus Auburn), a .681 winning percentage.

3 Auburn players ran for at least seven TDs apiece in 2022. In annual records dating to the 1950 season, this is the only instance of three Auburn players with at least seven rushing TDs in the same campaign. RB Tank Bigsby ran for 10 TDs, and QB Robby Ashford and RB Jarquez Hunter had seven TD runs apiece in 2022 for the Tigers.

5 Opponents scored at least 40 points against Auburn in 2022, the most in one season in the program’s history. Three opponents had scored 40 or more points against Auburn in 1948, 2011 and 2012. This season, Auburn lost 41-12 to Penn State on Sept. 17, 42-10 to Georgia on Oct. 8, 48-34 to Ole Miss on Oct. 15, 41-27 to Arkansas on Oct. 29 and 49-27 to Alabama on Nov. 26. Three of the 40-pointers came in consecutive games as Georgia, Ole Miss and Arkansas rushed for more than 275 yards apiece, with the Rebels running for 448, the most yielded on the ground in one game in the Tigers’ history. Before that stretch, Auburn had not allowed more than 275 rushing yards in consecutive games in this century. The Tigers’ opponents scored 28 TDs on the ground in 2022, the most in one season against Auburn in records that date to 1951.

8 Victories without a loss for Auburn in games played on Sept. 10 after the Tigers topped San Jose State 24-16 on that date in 2022. Auburn has more victories on other dates, but Sept. 10 is now the date with the most victories without a loss in the program’s history after moving ahead of Sept. 14′s 7-0 mark. In its previous Sept. 10 games, Auburn defeated Arizona 21-10 in 1977, Southern Miss 24-3 in 1983, Kentucky 20-10 in 1988, Northeast Louisiana 44-12 in 1994, Mississippi State 28-0 in 2005 and 41-34 in 2011 and Arkansas State 51-14 in 2016. All the games were played in Auburn. In 2022, the Tigers also played on Oct. 29 for the 20th time, although a 41-27 loss to Arkansas dropped Auburn’s record to 11-8-1 on that date. But Oct. 29 became the first date to feature 20 Auburn games, moving ahead of the 19 of Oct. 14, Nov. 15 and Nov. 19. The Tigers are scheduled to play on Oct. 14 in 2023, when they visit LSU.

9 TD passes and 12 interceptions for the Auburn offense in the 2022 season. The Tigers had the only passing attack in the SEC to produce more interceptions than TDs this season as Auburn finished last in the conference in passes, completions, passing yards, completion percentage, TD passes and passing-efficiency rating. Auburn has had three losing regular seasons in this century, and they correspond to the three least productive passing offenses for the Tigers during that span. In 2008, 5-7 Auburn had 1,985 passing yards and seven TD passes. In 2012, 3-9 Auburn had 1,878 passing yards and eight TD passes. In 2022, 5-6 Auburn had 2,072 passing yards and nine TD passes.

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31 Consecutive homecoming games have been won by Auburn. The Tigers haven’t lost on homecoming since 1991, when Mississippi State spoiled the festivities by taking a 24-17 victory. Auburn has an 84-8-4 homecoming record after defeating Missouri 17-14 in overtime on Sept. 24 in the 2022 homecoming game.

62 Games for Auburn TE John Samuel Shenker, the most for a player in school history. In the Tigers’ 13-10 victory over Texas A&M on Nov. 12, Shenker passed LB T.D. Moultry for sole possession of the record. Moultry played in 59 games from 2017 through 2021. Shenker also finished the 2022 season with the Auburn career record for receptions by a tight end, breaking the mark of 63 established by Cooper Wallace from 2002 through 2005. Shenker caught 68 passes for 779 yards and three TDs during his five seasons with the Tigers.

179 Yards and two TDs on 20 rushing attempts for Auburn RB Tank Bigsby in a 48-34 loss to Ole Miss on Oct. 15. Bigsby became the fourth Auburn player to run for at least 100 yards against the same opponent in at least three consecutive seasons. Bigsby ran for 129 yards in a 35-28 victory in 2020 and 140 in a 31-20 victory in 2021. Carnell “Cadillac” Williams had 100-yard games against Mississippi State in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Bo Jackson had 100-yard games against Alabama in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985 and James Brooks had 100-yard games against Tennessee in 1977, 1978 and 1979. With 970 yards in 2022 boosting his career total to 2,903, Bigsby ended the season seventh on Auburn’s all-time rushing list.

569 Games between former Auburn players serving as the Tigers’ head coach. When Carnell “Cadillac” Williams became Auburn’s interim coach after Bryan Harsin was fired eight games into the 2022 season, the former running back became the first Tigers player to lead the team since Ralph “Shug” Jordan retired after the 1975 campaign, his 25th season at the helm on the Plains. Between Jordan and Williams, Auburn had seven full-time and two interim head coaches without any being an alumnus of the school. Williams played running back for Auburn from 2001 through 2004, when he scored a school-record 46 TDs and ran for 3,831 yards, which is second behind Bo Jackson’s 4,303 on the Tigers’ career rushing list. Harsin had a 9-12 overall record and a 4-9 mark in conference play. Williams led Auburn to a 2-2 record to complete the 2022 season. Harsin’s tenure was the shortest for a full-time Auburn coach in the SEC era. George Bohler went 3-11 in 1928 and 1929 before being replaced by Johnny Floyd for the final four games of Auburn’s 1929 campaign, four years before the SEC’s first season.

710 Rushing yards and seven TDs on 153 carries for Auburn QB Robby Ashford in 2022. Ashford’s rushing yards ranked sixth and his rushing TDs ranked tied for second on the Tigers’ all-time freshman lists. Ashford also had the sixth-most rushing yards in one season by an Auburn quarterback. Ashford had 275 rushing yards and one rushing TD in the first half of the Tigers’ season and 435 rushing yards and six rushing TDs in the second half of Auburn’s 2022 campaign.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.