NASHVILLE – Auburn won the coin toss, elected to receive and never looked back in a 63-14 win over Purdue in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Friday.
"I'm real proud of our team," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said after the game. "They practiced extremely hard when we were at Auburn. When we got the bowl site, it was a business approach. That carried over. We talked about playing our best game of the year and we did that today."
The 63 points is a new SEC record for points scored in a bowl game, and the Tigers set a bowl record with 56 of those 63 points in the first half. With Malzahn calling the plays for the first time all season, the offense scored touchdowns on all seven of its first-half drives and finished with 586 total yards.
"I think for us, there were some opportunities that presented themselves throughout the game," Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. "They did a great job up front protecting. We just tried to make those explosive plays that we've needed all year."
Stidham, who already declared early for the NFL, completed 15 of 21 passes for 373 yards and a career-best five touchdown passes – which tied the Auburn single-game record. His first touchdown toss came on the third play of the game when he connected with running back JaTarvious Whitlow on a 66-yard touchdown pass to put Auburn on the board first.
It was Whitlow who scored again on the next drive, plunging in from two yards out. And then after a Javaris Davis interception, the freshman running back tacked on a third touchdown, a 1-yard run, in the first six minutes to give Auburn the early 21-0 lead.
After Whitlow scored his three touchdowns, it was Darius Slayton's turn to get into the act. The junior wide receiver caught a 74-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first quarter and then scored on a 52-yard pass the very next drive to make it 35-7. He later added a third touchdown reception in the first half, hauling in a 34-yard reception over the top of a Purdue defender.
"It was pretty exciting," Slayton said. "I just wanted to come out here and help my team get a bowl win. Like Coach Malzahn said, we were looking to play our best game today."
With 160 yards receiving on the day, Slayton now ranks 11th among Auburn career receiving yardage leaders with 1,605 career receiving yards. This was the third 100-yard receiving game of his career.
Fellow wide receiver Anthony Schwartz added a 6-yard touchdown run in the first half. It was the freshman's fifth rushing touchdown of the season and seventh overall.
The other first-half touchdown came courtesy of the defense when Big Kat Bryant returned an interception 20 yards to the end zone on a ball that was deflected at the line of scrimmage by Tyrone Truesdell. It was Bryant's first career interception and first career touchdown.
Not to be outdone by the offense, the Auburn defense held a high-octane Purdue offense to 14 points and 263 total yards. The Tigers finished with seven tackles for loss and three sacks, including a sack from senior linebacker Deshaun Davis, who led the way with nine tackles. With 266 career tackles, Davis now ranks fourth among Auburn career tacklers since 2000. He finished the season with a career-best 116 stops.
'This win means everything to me because I know what this team has been through," Davis said. "Our senior class, we've been through a lot. We wanted to send those young guys into next season with a lot of momentum. This win is good for the program, not just the seniors."
Auburn scored another touchdown on its opening drive of the second half as the Tigers went 78 yards on 12 plays and found the end zone on a 5-yard pass to Ryan Davis. It was the first touchdown catch of the season for the senior wide receiver, who is the program's all-time leader in receptions.
With the win, Auburn is now 24-17-2 in bowl games and 2-0 in the Music City Bowl.
Auburn vs. Purdue Notes
- Captains: Deshaun Davis, Ryan Davis, Jarrett Stidham
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and elects to receive
- Attendance: 59,024
TEAM NOTES
- Auburn is now 24-17-2 all-time in bowl games and 2-0 in Music City Bowl appearances
- First-time starters for Auburn: none
- Auburn has scored in 80 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
- Auburn scored first for the ninth time this season
- 56 points scored in the first half is an Auburn record (previous 49 vs. Chattanooga, 1995)
- 255 yards was the most yards by Auburn in the first quarter since 258 vs. Chattanooga (2003)
- 28 points ties the most scored by an Auburn team in the first quarter ever (also vs. Kansas, 1987 and 1988)
- This is the fourth time in Auburn history the Tigers have thrown 5 TD passes; the most recent was vs. Ball State in 2009
- 63 points scored is an SEC record for points scored in a bowl game
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Ryan Davis extends his Auburn career receiving record with 178 career receptions (5 today). Davis ranks 14th in Auburn career receiving yardage (1,555). He scored his seventh career TD reception.
- Davis caught a pass in 27 consecutive games, the most since Karsten Bailey had a 28-game streak in 1996-98 and the fourth-longest streak in school history
- Jarrett Stidham to Ryan Davis is the most productive pass tandem in Auburn history, with 154 (5 today) completions
- Stidham is sixth among Auburn career passing leaders with 5,891 yards (373 today). Stidham now ranks fourth in Auburn career completions with 470 (15 today).
- This is Stidham's fifth 300-yard passing game and a high for his Auburn career with 373 yards
- Stidham tied the Auburn single-game record with 5 TD passes, a career best
- JaTarvious Whitlow is now fourth all-time among Auburn freshman rushers with 785 yards this season (8 today); next is Bo Jackson (829 in 1982)
- Whitlow scored his sixth touchdown of the season and his second receiving touchdown. The 66-yard TD reception was Auburn's third-longest pass play of the season and Whitlow's career long reception. It was the longest TD catch by an Auburn running back since Mario Fannin (82 yds vs, West Virginia, 2009).
- Whitlow's first-quarter rushing touchdowns give him six rushing score of the season and eight overall TD. It's the first game Whitlow has had both a rushing and a receiving score.
- Darius Slayton's 74-yard touchdown reception from Stidham was the second-longest Auburn pass play of the season and the longest reception of Slayton's career.
- Slayton now has four TD catches this season and 10 for his career.
- Stidham has 18 TD passes this season and 36 in his Auburn career.
- With 160 receiving yards today, Slayton now ranks 11th among Auburn career receiving yardage leaders (1,605), passing Ronney Daniels (1,446 from 1999-2000), Ryan Davis (1,550 from 2015-18), Byron Franklin (1,573 from 1977-80) and Rod Smith (1,598 from 2004-08)
- This was Slayton's third career 100-yard receiving game
- Anthony Schwartz is now sixth all-time among Auburn freshman receivers with 357 receiving yards this season (50 today)
- Schwartz scored his fifth rushing TD of the season and seventh score overall this year
- Seth Williams ranks fifth in all-time freshman receptions with 26; Williams is third in all-time freshman receiving yardage with 534
- Kam Martin ranks 39th among Auburn career rushers (58 today) with 1,231 yards
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Javaris Davis records his second interception of the season
- Big Kat Bryant records his first interception and career score
- With 266 career tackles (9 today), Deshaun Davis ranks fourth among Auburn career tacklers since 2000, passing Zac Etheridge (261 from 2005-10) and Cassanova McKinzy (263 from 1012-15)
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Auburn holds the SEC record for consecutive PAT with 274, longest current streak in the nation with 9 PAT today. Anders Carlson is now 44-44 on PAT for his career
BOWL GAME NOTES
- It's the most points ever scored by Auburn in a bowl game (previous 43 vs. Virginia/2011 Chick-fil-A) and the Music City Bowl scoring record (49 by West Virginia vs. Ole Miss, 2000)
- 28 points in the first and second quarters are the most ever scored in a quarter by Auburn in a bowl game (21 vs. Virginia/2011 Chick-fil-A)
- 255 yards in the first quarter was the most ever by Auburn in a bowl game (previous: 206 vs. Army/1996 Independence)
- JaTarvous Whitlow is the first Auburn player to score three touchdowns in a bowl game
- Darius Slayton's 74-yard touchdown catch from Stidham is the longest TD reception by Auburn in a bowl game (previous best: 73, Bo Jackson from Pat Washington/1986 Cotton)
- Slayton ties Auburn's bowl record for TD receptions (latest Grant Taylor/1990 Hall of Fame)
- Stidham's 66-yard touchdown pass to Whitlow ties for the third-longest touchdown pass in Auburn bowl records (also Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis/2015 Outback)
- Whitlow is the first Auburn player to score both rushing and receiving touchdowns in a bowl game since the 2014 BCS national championship game (Tre Mason)
- Javaris Davis' interception was the first by an Auburn player in a bowl game since the 2015 Birmingham Bowl (Tray Matthews)
- Big Kat Bryant's interception return TD was the first by an Auburn player in a bowl since Walter McFadden (2010 Outback, 100 yds) and the fourth ever by an Auburn player in a bowl
- Jarrett Stidham is the first Auburn quarterback to throw four TD in a bowl game
- Darius Slayton has set an Auburn bowl receiving record (previous best: 159, Herbert Casey/1990 Peach)
- Auburn's 398 yards total offense is the most in a half in a bowl game (previous 349 vs. Army/1996 Independence)
- Jarrett Stidham's 373 yards passing are second-most by an Auburn player in a bowl game (394 by Ben Leard vs. Michigan/2001 Citrus)
- 586 yards is an Auburn bowl record for total offense (previous: 559 vs. Ole Miss/1971 Gator)