AUBURN, Ala. – A touchdown on the Tigers' first offensive play set the tone Saturday in No. 7 Auburn's 56-23 dismantling of Mississippi State at sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"Our fans were electric, really got in the game, helped us," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "Our special teams and our defense gave the offense some short fields and they capitalized with some touchdowns and really gave us some momentum."
Bo Nix completed 16 of 21 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, adding 56 rushing yards and a TD.
"They're unbelievable," Nix said, crediting Auburn's offensive line. "You have all kinds of time back there, and they really open up holes when you run the ball. When you're capable of running the ball, passing is a whole lot easier."
Auburn (5-0) scored six TDs in the first half and led 42-9 at intermission.
JaTarvious Whitlow scored three touchdowns in the first half, including a 30-yarder on Auburn's first play.
The Tigers forced three-and-outs on State's first two possessions, after which the Bulldogs' rushing yardage was minus-19.
Nix scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to give Auburn a 14-0 lead with 9:46 left in the first quarter
Gallery: (9/28/2019) Auburn 56, Mississippi State 23
After Jordyn Peters recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return at State's 18-yard line, Malik Miller's block paved the way for Anthony Schwartz on a 13-yard TD sweep to make it 21-0 just six minutes into the game.
After a Mississippi State touchdown, Whitlow scored his second TD from 3 yards out to put Auburn ahead 28-6 with 13:18 left in the second quarter.
Nix's 39-yard touchdown pass to Seth Williams gave Auburn a 35-9 lead at the 5:33 mark.
Jeremiah Dinson recovered a fumble late in the half. Nix connected with Schwartz for a 48-yard pass, the game's longest play. With 12 seconds left in the half, Whitlow scored his third touchdown.
Auburn kept the pressure on in the second half, scoring on the opening drive on Nix's 32-yard pass to Williams. Nix and Williams teamed up eight times for 161 yards and two touchdowns.
"You never know when it's your time and when it's your time you've just got to make plays, and it was my time tonight, and that's what I did," Williams said.
Nix went over the 300-yard mark for the first time in his Auburn career on a 31-yard pass to Sal Cannella.
Kam Martin scored Auburn's final touchdown on a 7-yard run with 14:16 left in the fourth quarter. The Tigers gained 578 yards.
Auburn forced two turnovers and limited State's Kylin Hill, the SEC's leading rusher, to 45 yards on 17 carries, a 2.6 per carry average, less than half of his 6.1 average.
"That was big," defensive lineman Marlon Davidson said. "Coming out there and saying, 'We're going to stop the run,' which we did."
Daniel Thomas led Auburn with six tackles. K.J. Britt added five, including two of the Tigers' five tackles for loss.
"I'm really proud of our team," Malzahn said. "We had a big emotional win last week on the road and it would have been really easy to let up. It would have been real easy to maybe look forward to the next game, and our guys didn't do that and they played their best football game as a team to date tonight. Really good team win."
Auburn will seek to improve to 3-0 in the SEC when the Tigers play at Florida next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT in a battle of unbeatens.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
GAME NOTES
- Captains: Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson, Jeremiah Dinson, Daniel Thomas
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and elects to defer. Mississippi State will receive
- Eagle Flight: Aurea from ramp above Section 46
- Attendance: 87,451 (capacity)
TEAM NOTES
- First-time starters for Auburn: none
- Auburn has scored in 85 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
- The last time Auburn scored on its first offensive play was vs. Arkansas in 2016, a 78-yard rush by Eli Stove
- Auburn's 21 points in the first quarter tied the school record for points in the first quarter versus SEC opponents; has eight times previously, the most recent in 2016 vs. Arkansas; Auburn scored 21 points in the first quarter vs. Mississippi State in 1994
- Five rushing touchdowns for Auburn ties the most scored by Auburn in a half (previous: 2003 vs. Mississippi State)
- 42 points in the first half ties the most points in a half against an SEC opponent (previous: 1990, Vanderbilt)
- 42 points is the most scored in a half by Auburn vs. Mississippi State; the previous high was 38 points in both 1969 and 2003
- 56 points ties the most Auburn has ever scored vs. Mississippi State; Auburn was a 56-0 winner over the Bulldogs in 1970
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Bo Nix rushed for his second touchdown of the season on a 9-yard run in the first quarter
- Nix' 39-yard and 32-yard TD passes to Seth Williams give Nix seven touchdown passes this season. Williams has four scores this season and nine for his career
- Nix records his first career 300-yard passing game; it's the fourth 300-yard passing game by a freshman in Auburn history; the three previous were by Stan White in 1990
- Williams has recorded the second 100-yard receiving game of his career (previous: 109 vs. Liberty, 2018); his total of 161 yards is the most by an Auburn receiver since Sammie Coates had 206 yards vs. Alabama in 2014
- JaTarvious Whitlow has 1,250 career rushing yards, moving him to 39th on the Auburn career rushing list, passing Fred Beasley (1,241 from 1994-97)
- Whitlow scored his fifth touchdown of the season on a 30-yard run in the first quarter. It's his longest TD run of the season and second-longest of his career (long: 66 yards vs. Purdue).
- Whitlow's second rushing TD of the game came on a 3-yard rush in the second quarter. Whitlow's third rushing score of the game came on a 3-yard run in the second quarter. He has 13 career rushing touchdowns and 15 overall scores.
- Whitlow records his third career game scoring multiple touchdowns
- Anthony Schwartz scored his second rushing touchdown of the season and seventh rushing TD of his career with a 13-yard run in the first quarter
- Kam Martin is now 36th all-time at Auburn with 1,361 career rushing yards, passing William Andrews (1,347 from 1976-78)
- Martin's fourth-quarter touchdown run was his second touchdown of the season and the eighth rushing score of his career
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Zakoby McClain recorded the first forced fumble of his career. Jordyn Peters' fumble recovery was the second of his career
- Jeremiah Dinson's QB sack was his second of the season and fourth of his career
- Dinson's fumble recovery was his first of the season and fourth of his career
- Owen Pappoe's forced fumble was the first of his career
- K.J. Britt's sack gives him 1.5 for the season and for his career
- Daniel Thomas was the leading tackler with six.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Auburn holds the SEC record for consecutive PAT with 299, an SEC record and the longest current streak in the nation. With eight PAT today, Anders Carlson is now 66-66 on PAT for his career