STARKVILLE, Miss. — JaTarvious Whitlow was about to walk in for a touchdown.
Auburn's leading rusher on the season, who was a game-time decision after suffering a shoulder injury in last week's 24-13 win over Southern Miss, busted a big play for the Tigers offense right when they needed it.
Trailing 16-6, Auburn's defense forced a three-and-out — a tall task against a seemingly unstoppable Miss State rushing attack. Jarrett Stidham and the Auburn offense strung together a productive drive that was yards away from bringing them within a score.
Whitlow's ensuing fumble at the goal-line, which resulted in a Miss State touchback, was one of many offensive mishaps for No. 8 Auburn in a 23-9 loss on Saturday inside Davis Wade Stadium.
Granted, the aforementioned run game of Joe Moorhead's Bulldogs (4-2, 1-2 SEC) were a problem, as well. State became the first team to go over 300 (349) against Auburn since Leonard Fournette helped LSU go for 411 in 2015.
Headlining the rushing show was senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald, whose 39-yard rush in the fourth quarter allowed him to surpass Tim Tebow for the most rushing yards by a QB in conference history.
"(Mississippi State) did a good job with their scheme and they added a couple wrinkles," said Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. "(Fitzgerald is) pretty good when he gets going downhill. And he got going downhill a few times."
But Kevin Steele's defense was gassed. Auburn's (4-2, 1-2 SEC) drives ended in either field goals or self-inflicted kill shots, and they ended fast. State would then orchestrate monster possessions, chewing clock to the tune of a 41:53 to 18:07 advantage.
"It's tough, but their offense did a good job of holding the ball and chewing up clock," Auburn receiver Darius Slayton said. "As an offense, all you can do is wait, and then go out there and do our job."
After Whitlow entered the game amid Auburn's fourth possession, the Tigers began moving the ball efficiently with quick throws to receivers in space and tosses/sweeps to running backs on the edge. It was the team's best drive thus far.
It was swiftly killed off after Kam Martin bobbled a snap out of the Wildcat on third-and-2. Anders Carlson then missed his sixth 50-plus yard kick of the year.
"I felt like we were getting into a rhythm when we were having positive plays," Auburn receiver Ryan Davis said. "We were moving up and down the field. We've just got to find a way to get into the end zone, somehow."
Along with Carlson's long-range misfire, another 2018 constant blew a scoring opportunity on the following drive in the form of Stidham's continued struggles with the long ball. On third-and-short, Stidham overthrew Slayton after some trickeration in the backfield. No Miss State defenders were within 20 yards of him.
"We had a couple of opportunities," Malzahn said. "In a game like this, when you have opportunities, you’ve got to seize the moment. We had our hands on a ball or two in the end zone, we were close on a deep shot. But close doesn’t get it. We’ve got to make the plays."
The first-half momentum then swayed further toward the Bulldogs after Davis muffed a punt, giving Fitzgerald a short field to put together the first of his two touchdown drives.
After Stidham's overthrow of Slayton, Mississippi State held the ball for nearly the next 17 minutes of game time. And when Stidham and company came back on the field, their drive took only 1:10 off the clock.
However, despite being given little time to rest on the sideline, Auburn's defense bailed out the offense one last time when Marlon Davidson swatted a 31-yard field goal attempt that, if good, would have made the contest a two-score affair.
Stidham marched the Tigers down the field only to have another self-inflicted wound stall them out in the form of a Whitlow dropped pass on third down.
“I mean, it is what it is," Stidham said. "We got to find a way to get better. Whatever it is each week, we have to find a way to get better, because we do have a lot of talent on this offense.”
Whitlow appeared to show no lingering issues after his injury, leading the team in rushing with 88 yards on just eight carries, including the 41-yard gallop that nearly ended with a score.
But as a team, the Tigers failed to reach the century mark for the third straight game and didn't convert a third down until a throwback screen to John Samuel Shenker with 3:23 left in the third quarter gained 26.
Auburn's offense has yet to score 30 against an FBS foe and hasn't scored a touchdown in the last six quarters.
"Adjusted really well at halftime, I thought, and came out and did some really good things," Stidham said. "Just, like I said, we've got to put the ball in the end zone.”
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
