AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn could have overlooked Mississippi State. The Tigers were coming off a hard-fought, emotional road win at Texas A&M, and the media was already looking ahead to next week's potential top-10 showdown in Gainesville. They were counting Saturday's game as another victory.
Not Auburn. If you watched Gus Malzahn's weekly press conference from last Tuesday, you would have known just how important this game was to his team. In his opening comments, he alluded to last year's game where Mississippi State "embarrassed" the Tigers.
"The great thing about is that we've got most of our guys back, so you really don't have to say anything," Malzahn went on to say. "They know exactly what happened."
"Where I'm from, we don't get embarrassed by anybody," senior defensive lineman Marlon Davidson said. "After that game, you're just thinking 'Dang, that hurt.' That hurt me deeply. I took that very personally. So I took this game like it was any other game, like an Alabama or Georgia game. This was one of the games that I wanted for sure this year."
Davidson wasn't alone. Auburn came out Saturday, and you would've thought that it was Alabama or Georgia on the opposite sideline.
The defense forced a 3-and-out on the first drive after Jeremiah Dinson and Owen Pappoe combined to sack the quarterback for a 16-yard loss on third down. And then it took the offense all of one play to score as running back JaTarvious Whitlow busted through the line of scrimmage on the first play and went 30 yards for a touchdown.
It was more of the same from that point on. Another 3-and-out from Mississippi State followed by another Auburn touchdown. And then after the Bulldogs fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Auburn scored a third touchdown on just two plays.
Six minutes into the game, the Tigers were up 21-0 and had run a total of eight plays.
"You're just feeding off each other," Auburn defensive back Jeremiah Dinson said. "The offense scores. Then the defense is going out there and getting a 3-and-out. The offense scores again. We're just feeding off each other."
"It was very fun, but it's not fun when the (offense) is scoring really, really fast," Davidson joked. "You just get off the field, and you're a little tired. But having those guys rolling, it brings a lot of excitement to us. We can count on our offense. With Bo Nix and those guys, they have been on fire."
Saturday marked the third straight game that Auburn's offense has scored two or more touchdowns in the opening quarter.
As for Nix, he played arguably the best game of his young career Saturday. The true freshman quarterback completed 16 of his 21 passes for a career-high 335 yards and two touchdowns, and he also added 56 yards rushing and a touchdown on seven carries.
"(Getting ahead early) is huge," Nix said. "It allows you to really relax and be comfortable with the offense and just play like you're capable of playing. Because when you have a lead like that, you're not necessarily stressed out about scoring for the first time. When we get good field position like our defense gave us, we just capitalize with it."
Auburn scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter and took a 42-9 lead into halftime. The final score was 56-23, a far cry from last year's game in Starkville.
In that game, Mississippi State outrushed Auburn, 349-90. This year? The Tigers rushed for 217 yards and accounted for nearly 600 yards of total offense. They also held Mississippi State's star running back Kylin Hill to just 45 yards on 17 carries.
"We owed them," Auburn offensive lineman Kaleb Kim said. "It was kind of a rough game last year with everything that went down. It wasn't a good performance to say the least. To come out here tonight and be able to pick up that win in that way, it's good for everyone. We're all pretty happy."
That happiness was evident in the locker room after the game, but now it's on to next week and a road trip to Florida where the magnitude of the game should be motivation enough.