AUBURN, Ala. – With each lightning bolt, the game resumption clock reset to 30 minutes, as a hot Auburn afternoon gave way to a stormy evening.
Inside Auburn's new locker room, the Tigers talked over adjustments with their coaches and listened to music, riding out the storm.
"Sat around, I checked a couple other scores in the games," receiver Darius Slayton said. "Just tried to stay warm."
"After two hours, I was like, 'I could have pulled up a movie on Netflix,'" joked Jordyn Peters, who had a career-high 2.5 tackles for loss. "I've never been through a weather delay at all. It was sort of hard at first, but once they told us we were going back out, we cranked the music up and everybody got hyped again. It was like that beginning of the game."
After the 2-hour, 44-minute weather delay, the Tigers returned, with quarterback Jarrett Stidham enthusiastically leading his teammates onto the field.
"If you can get your guys to get going, like it was before the game, it helps everybody get up and going, and get a great attitude about coming out and playing after a long delay like that," Stidham said.
WAR KAM EAGLE
On a season-high 24 carries, Kam Martin gained 90 yards, adding 17 receiving yards.
"I knew when my number was called, I had to just make plays, and just keep running the ball hard," said Martin, whose workload increased when JaTarvious Whitlow left with an injury after four first-half carries. "It always feels good to step foot in Jordan-Hare, making plays. I ran hard. I got a lot of bull yards, yards after contact.
"We're going to get better. I believe in everybody. We just have to get better as a team, and we will down the stretch."
GO LONG
Of Stidham's 245 passing yards, 99 came on two plays, a 46-yard touchdown pass to freshman Seth Williams in the first quarter, and a 53-yard bomb to Darius Slayton that led to a Chandler Cox 2-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.
Stidham aired it out down the middle on Auburn's first play, but Williams was unable to make the catch. Later in the first quarter, the true freshman maximized his second opportunity, outjumping a defensive back for his first career touchdown.
"Shake it off, I'm going to come back to you," Stidham told Williams. "Came back to him within the next couple series and he made a great play.
"I have full confidence in Seth," Stidham said. "He's a phenomenal player, big target, so I just try to give him a shot."
Slayton led Auburn with five receptions for 91 yards, including the 53-yarder, Auburn's longest play of the game.
Like Williams, Slayton's big play came after an incompletion on a previous series of a pass he considered catchable.
"I think the corner pressed me on that play so I knew I could get behind him," Slayton said. "I had the last drive in the back of my mind, so I was like, 'I need to make a play, make amends.' I was able to do that."
SEC ROAD TRIP
After a four-game homestand, the Tigers will be the visitors for the first time when Auburn plays at Mississippi State Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
"Despite whatever's going on, our defense still played lights out," Slayton said. "They're holding people to low amounts, so I think we know as an offense, as long as we can put up points, they're always going to be able to hold people."
"We're about to get this thing rolling," Martin said. "We're about to go on a stretch, like how it was last year. Coach Malzahn said it. After the LSU loss, we went on a stretch last year. It's time for everybody to step up, and that's what's going to happen."
"I have full confidence in our team," Stidham said. "That we're going to continue to push ourselves every week and get better."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
