NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Much to his surprise, Big Kat Bryant spun mid pass rush to find a most welcome gift: the football, courtesy of a deflection by Tyrone Truesdell.
"I was surprised," said Bryant, whose 20-yard interception return gave Auburn a 42-7 early second quarter lead in the Tigers' 63-14 Music City Bowl win.
"When I turned around it was right there," he said. "I didn't know True had batted the ball. I just turned around and the ball was in my hands. I was shocked for a second."
With only an offensive lineman in his vicinity, Bryant raced untouched into the end zone.
"I knew where I was," he said. "I knew nobody was going to catch me."
A two-way player in high school, Bryant scored touchdowns on offense as a tight end, but this was his first defensive score at any level.h
"We really did it for the seniors," Bryant said. "To finish it off with them, the way we did it, was big."
IT JUST MEANS MOOREWhile Purdue freshman Rondale Moore made 11 catches for 94 yards and scored a rushing touchdown, Auburn held the Paul Hornung Award winner to 9.5 yards per catch, including a long of 27 yards.
"He's a good receiver, probably one of the top receivers in college football," Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "We knew we had a challenge. I think we probably contained him better than anybody else did all year."
Javaris Davis blanketed Moore for much of the game, adding a sack and an interception along with four tackles.
"I showed a little glimpse of what I can do," Javaris Davis said. "Just have to keep working, progressing, and keep getting better.
"The key was, everybody do their job and play for one another, and play with relentless effort and good technique. I feel like we did that."
WILDCAT WHITLOWNever had an Auburn Tiger scored three touchdowns in a bowl game. JaTarvious Whitlow did it Friday In 8 minutes.
Whitlow scored Auburn's first touchdown on a 66-yard reception, adding two TD runs out of the Wildcat formation to put the Tigers up 21-0 with 6:59 left in the first quarter.
"I love that," said Whitlow, a high school quarterback at nearby LaFayette who spent his redshirt season of 2017 observing Kerryon Johnson's Wildcat success. "K.J.'s my role model. I've been watching when he ran it. I like the Wildcat. I feel like I'm in high school again."
MUSIC CITY MOMENTUMPropelled by a win over a Big 10 opponent in the 2003 Music City Bowl, the 2004 Auburn Tigers parlayed that momentum into an unbeaten SEC championship season.
Fifteen years later, Auburn hopes an even more convincing bowl victory will have the same effect in 2019.
"I really feel like this will carry over in the offseason," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "We've got a lot of things we can build upon and get us some momentum going into next season."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer