Auburn rebounded from a disappointing loss in Week 2 with a trouncing victory at home in Week 3.

On Saturday night, the Tigers (2-1) raced away from New Mexico in the second half to win 45-19. It was an uneven showing in the first half, as the home favorites of more than 24 points took just a 4-point advantage into the locker room, but the Auburn defense tightened up over the game’s final 30 minutes as the offense finally found a rhythm.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Hank Brown takes the reins

When Hank Brown was announced as the starter on the video board in the pregame, the Auburn crowd erupted. Reports emerged prior to Saturday’s game that coach Hugh Freeze had decided to sit longtime starter Payton Thorne and give his backup a chance to ignite a sputtering offense. The fanbase responded with a massive show of support for the sophomore.

And in his first career start, Brown avoided the back-breaking errors that plagued Thorne a week earlier. He completed 17 of his 25 passes for 235 yards and 4 touchdowns. He had big-play completions of 22, 26, 26, and 50 yards. His scores all went to different targets as well.

Brown operated the RPO offense well and let tailback Jarquez Hunter work. Auburn ran for 268 yards on the ground at 6.7 a carry. Through the air, Brown had completions to 10 different players.

Defense bends, but doesn’t break

It was not a clean day from the Auburn defense, but that unit made plays when it mattered.

New Mexico averaged 6 yards per rush. The pass game hit for 291 yards. New Mexico averaged 6.4 yards a play and hit 5 explosives in the pass game as well as 8 explosives in the run game. There are plenty of areas to improve upon.

But after getting points from 3 of its first 4 drives in the game, New Mexico was held to just 1 score on its final 7 possessions. Those drives featured a trio of 3-and-outs, an interception, a turnover on downs after just 4 plays, and a missed field goal. New Mexico had 5 drives reach the red zone and only scored 2 touchdowns. That continues to be a strength for the Tigers throughout the start of the season, as opponents are now just 4-for-10 when it comes to scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

Auburn also held New Mexico to a 4-for-13 showing on third down, including just 2-for-5 on third-and-short chances. After converting 3 of its first 4 tries on third down, the Lobos only had 1 conversion the rest of the game.

Jerrin Thompson delivers highlight of the game

Safety Jerrin Thompson had one of the highlights of the first half when he picked off New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier.

Thompson led the Tigers in tackles on the evening with 6.