AUBURN | Auburn didn’t waste anytime putting away ULM.

The Tigers scored on four of their first five possessions in a 48-14 blowout win over the Warhawks Saturday afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Payton Thorne threw for a career-high five touchdown passes including three in the first half. The senior completed 22 of 32 passes for 286 yards in just three quarters of action,

Cam Coleman was on the receiving end of three of Thorne’s TD passes, catching a 20-yarder in the first quarter, a 3-yarder in the second and a 22-yarder in the third. The freshman finished with eight receptions for 100 yards and three touchdowns, all career-highs.

Thorne closed out the first half with a 30-yard TD pass to KeAndre Lambert Smith, who made a leaping catch over a defender at the 7-yard line and strolled into the end zone to put AU up 24-0 at the break.

Malcolm Simmons caught a 40-yard TD pass at the end of the third quarter Lambert-Smith had six catches for 104 yards and Simmons six for 63 yards.

Jarquez Hunter led the Tigers with 102 rushing yards on 14 carries to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career. Damari Alston added 29 yards on five carries including a 7-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Freshman quarterback Walker White played the entire fourth quarter, completing 2 of 5 passes for 18 yards and rushing for 18 yards on four carries.

A stingy AU defense held ULM to 218 total yards and totaled six tackles-for-loss including two TFL and a sack by freshman linebacker Demarcus Riddick, who started his first-career game.

In his first-career start, walk-on Ian Vachon made field goals of 22 and 26 yards and was 6 of 6 on extra points.

Auburn, 4-6 overall and 1-5 in the SEC, hosts No. 15 Texas A&M next Saturday night.