Tigers suffer first loss of season at Mississippi St 38-23

October 11, 2014

1st 2nd 3rd 4th F (2) Auburn Tigers (5-1) 0 13 7 3 23 (3) Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-0) 21 7 0 10 38

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By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

STARKVILLE, Miss.- - The cowbells clanged and another top team fell in the SEC West on Saturday. No. 3 Mississippi State beat No. 2 Auburn 38-23 in a game filled with turnovers and rain and mistakes too great to overcome, at least for the Tigers in Scott Field.

Chalk it up as another crazy game in the rough-and-tumble SEC West, which saw two of its power teams, then-No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Auburn on Saturday, lose in back-to-back weekends.

Mississippi State survived, beating a Top 10 team for the third consecutive game, and perhaps laying claim for the top spot in the polls Sunday.

It was just the second regular-season loss for coach Gus Malzahn in his second year as Auburn's head coach. The West is likely far from decided.

The largest crowd in Mississippi State history, officially 62,945, soaked in Mississippi State's quick lead and a second-quarter rainstorm. At least the Bulldogs' fans soaked it up. State led 21-0 early.

Auburn tried to come back. A 16-yard pass from Nick Marshall to Duke Williams completed a 99-yard drive to cut the Bulldogs' advantage to 28-20 left in the third quarter.

It was that way until the fourth quarter until Evan Sobiesk's short field goal put Mississippi State up by two scores, at 31-20 with 11:33 left, then Auburn fumbled the kickoff and Josh Robinson's 1-yard TD run made it 38-20 just 26 seconds later.

Auburn beat State 24-20 last season by scoring the game-winner with 10 seconds left. There would be no such heroics this season.

The Bulldogs improved to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn fell to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the league, thanks primarily to a troublesome start.

Auburn ran itself into a world of trouble, not only on its first two possessions, but its first two plays. Auburn turned the ball over each time, and each time Mississippi State converted them into touchdowns.

Turnovers and points by everybody, and a fake punt by State that went astray, made for an uneven first half. Offensive penalties in the second half erased some of Auburn's biggest plays. State had four turnovers in the first half. Auburn committed two turnovers and missed a chance to close the gap when it had to settle for field goal tries.

State scored 14 points off turnovers. Auburn scored 13.

Auburn found itself in a hole quickly, and it was deep. The Bulldogs led 14-0 just 3 ½ minutes into the game. It was 21-0 five minutes later. Auburn made a game from there, scoring three times and missing a short field goal try on another chance, to make it 21-13 with 5:26 left in the second quarter.

But State answered, scoring late in the half on a 15-yard Prescott run. Prescott accounted for three touchdowns in the first half, running it in from 15 and 2 yards, and throwing a 34-yard touchdown pass to De'Runnya Wilson. State's other touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Robinson.

Auburn tried to catch up. Daniel Carlson kicked field goals of 21 and 22 yards, and Marshall threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Duke Williams. That play made it a one-possession game, but that's when the Bulldogs turned in their best drive, going 75 yards in eight plays for the score to go up 28-13.

Prescott accounted for three touchdowns and had 265 yards of total offense in the first half. Marshall had the touchdown toss to Williams and 145 total yards.