19th-Ranked Tigers Defeat Bulldogs, 45-13
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October 18, 2003
AUBURN (AP) -- Carnell Williams ran for 161 yards and a school-record six touchdowns - five in the first half - as No. 19 Auburn pounded Mississippi State 45-13 on Saturday.
Brandon Jacobs also carried 31 times for a career-high 182 yards for the Tigers (5-2, 4-0 Southeastern Conference), who have won five straight in their drive for the Western Division title.
The blowout came a day after Jackie Sherrill announced he would retire following the season, his 13th with the Bulldogs (2-5, 1-2), and emphasized just how far the program has fallen in recent years.
Mississippi State has lost 10 straight SEC road games and trailed 38-7 by halftime, unable to even slow Williams and Jacobs or sustain anything offensively.
Williams broke Joe Cribbs' 25-year-old school mark with a 6-yarder with 3:01 left in the third carry, one of only two second-half carries and 15 overall.
He was only the third player in SEC history to score six touchdowns, joining Mississippi's Showboat Boykin and Madre Hill, the latter holding the league mark with seven for Arkansas.
Auburn rushed for 405 yards on 56 carries, the most since the Tigers gained 413 against Florida State in 1985.
Williams got it going with a dazzling 72-yarder early, bowling over linebacker Clarence McDougal downfield and winning a footrace for the end zone.
Williams also scored on runs of 3, 22, 17 and 2 yards in the first 18 minutes and had 154 yards before halftime as the Tigers piled up 410 total yards in the half.
It was the first time the Tigers have had two 100-yard rushers since 1995, when Stephen Davis and Eric Hines-Tucker did it against Northeast Louisiana. Jacobs, a junior college transfer, was subbing for injured second-teamer Ronnie Brown.
The Bulldogs got Nick Turner's 77-yard TD run in the first quarter, but little else in the first half. Fant, the league's No. 2 passer, was 8-of-22 for 73 yards with an interception.
Backup Kyle York threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jenkins against Auburn's reserves in the fourth. Turner gained 123 yards on 13 rushes.
The Tigers started racking up the big plays early, getting three of 30 or more in the first quarter.
Williams has gained 517 yards in the past three games and could claim his third straight SEC offensive player of the week honor.