Auburn football notebook: 2:30 p.m. kick for Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

Auburn football notebook: 2:30 p.m. kick for Deep South's Oldest RivalryAuburn football notebook: 2:30 p.m. kick for Deep South's Oldest Rivalry

D.J. Williams

AUBURN, Ala. – On his way back to the locker room, Prince Tega Wanogho walked past D.J. Williams while the freshman running back described his first Auburn touchdown to reporters.

"You got a touchdown?" Wanogho asked. "Yes," Williams replied. "That's yours."

"That's mine?" Wanogho wondered. "Yes, that's yours," Williams confirmed, smiling.

The tongue-in-cheek repartee  was understandable, given what transpired earlier Saturday in Auburn's 20-14 win vs. Ole Miss. Stacked up near the goal-line, the 5-10, 216-pound freshman Williams received an assist from the 6-7, 305-pound senior.

Not content to merely push Williams into the end zone, Auburn's left tackle lifted his running back across the goal line, body slamming his teammate to the turf a la Nick Fairley circa 2010.

"My mindset the entire time was we're not getting denied this time," Wanogho said. "I saw him right there and all I could think about was grab him and put him into the end zone. I didn't mean to slam him though, but I've got to do what I've got to do."

Wanogho apologized for his overexuberance. "I'm sorry, bro, I didn't mean to slam you down," Prince Tega said. "'We're good, I'm used to that,'" came the response.

"We got points. That's all that mattered," said Williams, who thanked Wanogho for the end zone escort.

HALL PASS

With defensive captains Marlon Davidson (back) and Jeremiah Dinson (virus) sidelined, freshman Derick Hall made three tackles in his first start at buck, while Jamien Sherwood filled in for DInson in the secondary with six tackles including a tackle for loss.

"Coach G (associate head coach Rodney Garner) told me right before the game that I was going to be starting," said Hall, a true freshman from Gulfport, Mississippi. "Marlon just talked to me, told me what I had to do, especially playing against a team from Mississippi, it was huge for me. I loved it. Couldn't ask for better."

"Without Jeremiah, that was a huge loss," said Sherwood, a sophomore from Jensen Beach, Florida. "We're trained well. Coach Crime (defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff) gets us all ready. It's always next man up, and when you get in there, just play ball."

BRAHMS STARTS

On offense, sophomore Nick Brahms made his first start of the season at center.

"I started a little bit last year, I had a little bit of experience under my belt. That helped a lot," Brahms said. "It kind of kept the nerves down."

Brahms and the offensive line helped Auburn produce 507 yards of total offense, including 340 passing yards from quarterback Bo Nix.

"We had great quarterback-center exchanges," Nix said. "He plays a big role in our offense and he does a good job."

DEEP SOUTH'S OLDEST RIVALRY

After an open date, No. 12 Auburn (7-2, 4-2) hosts No. 6 Georgia (7-1, 4-1) at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on CBS in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.

"A win going into a bye week, with the tough schedule that we've had, that's really good," Nix said.

"It's going to be pretty good for us to get our leaders back, Jeremiah, Marlon, and also getting back healthy," said safety Daniel Thomas, who shared the team lead with Derrick Brown with seven tackles against Ole Miss. "I'm looking forward to it. Focus on us this week and continue to build strong as a team."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer