By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- Quarterback Sean White was steady in his first college game and the defense showed some moxie, but neither was enough to stop Mississippi State from beating Auburn 17-9 Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
White, a redshirt freshman, was 20-of-28 for 188 yards passing and showed a willingness to run after being named Auburn's starting quarterback earlier in the week. The Tigers' defense kept Auburn close enough.
Auburn finished with more yards and first downs than State.
Peyton Barber had more than 100 yards rushing before the third quarter was done and finished with 137, his third 100-plus rushing game this season. Auburn wasn't afraid to mix in Roc Thomas and Kerryon Johnson, either.
The Tigers fell to 2-2. State improved to 3-1. Auburn will try to rebound next Saturday's homecoming game against San Jose State in a 3 p.m. game in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Carlson's 30-yard field goal cut State's lead to 14-3 with 9:41 left in the third quarter, and his 30-yarder made it 14-6 with 3:06 left in the quarter. Auburn was close to doing more. The Tigers had been inside the State 10 four times by then, but had only two field goals to show for it.
State's Westin Graves' 45-yard field goal made 17-6 with 1:11 left in the third quarter. Carlson's 51-yarder made it 17-9 with 1:07 left in the game.
Auburn's defense kept the game close in the first half in a bounce-back performance from the previous game at LSU, though State led 14-0 at the break. The Bulldogs rode the arm of Prescott to do it. He hit 16-of-20 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
But White was steady in his own right in the first half, completing 9 of 10 passes for 92 yards.
The first half stats were close enough, with State holding a 200-180 edge in total yards. But Auburn was turned away early when White was intercepted near the end zone, and then the Tigers missed a short field goal in the final minute of the first half.
Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp called for a change of attitude, and drilled the point home with a different starting lineup, one that included two true freshmen starting in the secondary and different starting linebackers from the previous week.
State scored its first-half touchdowns on a 32-yard pass from Prescott to Gabe Myles and a 17-yard pass from Prescott to De'Runnya Wilson.
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine