STARKVILLE, Miss. — Auburn’s defensive performance Saturday night will go down in the record books, but for all the wrong reasons.
With 2:02 left in the fourth quarter, Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald scampered into the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown, cowbells ringing into the night, to cap a 195-yard rushing performance, and overtake Tim Tebow as the top rushing quarterback in SEC history.
But, it wasn’t just late in Miss State's 23-9 win. Fitzgerald ran rampant all night.
“The guy just outplayed us,” Auburn defensive end Marlon Davidson said. “He’s a great football player. The offense is run by him. He made some plays today that I’ve never seen somebody make. Just the way he bounced from the right side, A gap, to always to the back side C gap. He just made great plays, man. My hat is tipped off to him.”
The Bulldogs were content not throwing the ball. They ran the ball 57 times for 349 yards, the most an Auburn defense has allowed since Leonard Fournette and LSU rushed for 411 yards in Death Valley three years back. Starting running back Kylin Hill carried the ball 23 times for 126 yards, while Fitzgerald and Aeris Williams accounted for a combined 223 yards.
"They ran their speed-sweep read,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “He's (Fitzgerald) got long arms. They did a good job with their scheme and they added a couple wrinkles. He's pretty good when he gets going downhill. And he got going downhill a few times."
The late touchdown, which gave Mississippi State a commanding 23-9 lead, was the final blow to the Tigers defense that spent almost 42 minutes on the field.
Davidson refused to make that an excuse, however.
“We’ve got to fight,” Davidson said. “That’s all that matters. Our defense is built on fight. No matter what, we’re going to throw the last punch. That’s what we did. We kept fighting and we kept fighting. The outcome didn’t go our way. We had bad plays, the fumble for a touchback, long dropped punt. We beat ourselves.”
The Auburn offense gave no support, as has been the case of late, rushing for under 100 yards for the third straight game and failing to score a touchdown after being in deep the red zone on three separate occasions. The Tigers converted a first down for the first time Saturday night at the 3:23 mark in the third quarter, after starting the game 0-for-7.
“I know my offense is going to get it right,” Davidson said. “I know they’re going to come through for us when the time needs it. I know as the season goes on, they’re going to get better. The only thing we have to do is keep helping them at practice, keep building and make sure they get right.”
An interception and a blocked field goal weren’t quite enough inside Davis Wade Stadium, and the Tigers now have two SEC losses heading into the meat of their schedule. Auburn safety Jeremiah Dinson, however, has confidence that the defense, with leaders like Davidson and Deshaun Davis, will rebound next weekend against Tennessee.
“You’ve just got to be a pro,” Dinson said. “You’ve got to be a pro. Coach Steele always talks about being a pro, so like I told you, tomorrow, we’ve got to come in, we’re going to watch film, watch what we did wrong, get better, and put it behind us. We can’t dwell on this loss.”
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