AUBURN | Jarquez Hunter had Auburn’s fourth-best rushing game with 278 yards in a 24-10 win at Kentucky.

He did it behind an offensive line that’s had its share of ups and downs this fall and was using its fourth different starting lineup in eight games.

“The plan was really good and our kids executed it and we’ve got really good running backs,” said AU coach Hugh Freeze. “But our O-line really played one of their better games.

“We showed a few different things but when it came down to it, truthfully, it wasn’t like it was extremely fancy runs. It was mostly inside zones that we just blocked up really well. Then our guys made the first guy miss and created some explosive runs. But it starts upfront.”

For the first time this season, Dillon Wade started at left tackle and redshirt freshman Bradyn Joiner stepped into the starting lineup at left guard. Wade was AU’s starting left tackle last season before moving to left guard to begin this fall.

Right tackle Izavion Miller, who had been playing through a hip injury, earned SEC Offensive Line Player of the Week honors.

Not surprisingly, Freeze is hoping to have the same lineup through the final four games of the regular season.

“You've got a small sample size, but from the sample size that we have, you've got to say yes,” said Freeze off starting the same unit next week. “Weren't perfect. They never will be with all the looks you see and all the movements you see.

“We still don't protect extremely well, particularly, shockingly, it's more in our max protect stuff that we're not protecting well. I think it was two or three sacks, so that's too many. We've got to get rid of those. But that unit played really solid, so I'd have to say, from the one-game sample size, that it was our best performance.”

Freeze also praised his offensive staff for the plan they came up with against the Wildcats along with the a couple of other key components of the running game.

“The tight ends blocked one of their better games, for sure, and our running backs ran it really, really well. Payton, when we called on him to run it, had some nice runs too to kind of get a few first downs here and there,” said Freeze.

Auburn hosts Vanderbilt Saturday at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network.