AUBURN, Ala. – Coming off its most impressive performance of the season, No. 24 Auburn (4-2) was supposed to play at Mississippi State on Saturday. Instead, that game was pushed back to Dec. 12 because of positive COVID-19 tests and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Mississippi State program.
The Tigers will now get another week off before they host Tennessee on Nov. 21.
"This year is unique," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn. "We're all learning, and you've just got to adjust and adapt. That was really my message way back before the season even started. The teams that adjust and adapt the best are going to have an advantage.
"I was real proud of our team. We continue to get better and better. Last game, we played our best game. We had a lot of momentum and had an off week, which came at a good time. Then we found out that we were not going to play another one, but we've just got to adjust. So that's what we are doing as coaches and players. That's our mindset."
Following the Tennessee game, the Tigers will get a crack at the two teams ahead of them in the SEC West standings – No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 Texas A&M. Then it's off to Starkville to wrap up the regular season with the makeup game against Mississippi State.
Here is a look at some key stats and numbers through Auburn's first six games of 2020.OFFENSE
200: Auburn is the only SEC team to rush for 200 yards in four straight games this season.
30: In its last game, a 48-11 victory over LSU, Auburn accounted for 506 total yards (300 passing, 206 rushing). It was the 30th game under head coach Gus Malzahn where the offense had at least 500 yards. There have been 10 600-yard games in the same span.
91: Bo Nix's 91-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Schwartz vs. LSU is the longest pass play in the SEC and the third-longest in the FBS this season. It was also the third-longest pass play in Auburn history (the longest: 94, Cam Newton to Emory Blake vs. ULM in 2010).
9: Against LSU, Nix threw three touchdown passes and rushed for one score. It was his ninth career game with a passing touchdown and rushing touchdown, two more than any other SEC quarterback since the start of the 2019 season.
148.83: True freshman Tank Bigsby is second in the SEC and No. 22 nationally with 148.83 all-purpose yards per game. His 503 rushing yards is second among all FBS freshmen.
19: Junior wide receiver Seth Williams has caught a pass in his last 19 games dating back to the 2018 Music City Bowl. In his career, 87 of Williams' 113 catches have resulted in either a first down or a touchdown. All but four of his receptions this season have gone for a first down or TD.
DEFENSE
1: The Auburn defense is the only defense in the SEC that has not given up more than 30 points in a game this season.
32: The Tigers held LSU to 32 rushing yards, the third-fewest yards in the long-time series. It was the 19th time against an SEC opponent that the Auburn defense allowed 32 rushing yards or fewer – the last was vs. Arkansas (25 yards) in 2016.
23.6: In 26 games against ranked opponents under defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, Auburn has allowed an average of 23.6 points per game and has allowed 17 or fewer points nine times.
7: Colby Wooden leads the SEC with 7.0 tackles for loss this season. Wooden has recorded at least 0.5 TFL in every game. As a team, Auburn is fourth in the SEC with 36.0 tackles for loss.
62: Zakoby McClain is third in the SEC with 62 total tackles. With 13 stops at South Carolina, McClain became the first Auburn player since Deshaun Davis in 2018 with double-figure tackles in three straight games (Georgia 11, Arkansas 14, South Carolina 13).
53: Fellow linebacker Owen Pappoe ranks ninth in the conference with 53 stops.
48.9: Auburn, which has allowed a touchdown on 48.9 percent of its opponents' red zone trips since 2016 (85 of 174), is one of four FBS programs to allow a touchdown on fewer than 50 percent of its opponents' red zone trips during that same span (along with Wisconsin, Clemson and Cincinnati).
SPECIAL TEAMS
231: With six PAT against LSU, Anders Carlson ranks ninth in Auburn career scoring with 231 points.
705: With 705 combined career kicking points, the Carlson brothers (Anders and Daniel) are third all-time in the most points scored by a duo of brothers who kicked for the same college.
149: Auburn is two games ahead of Hawaii for the longest current span of games (149) without having a punt blocked. The Tigers last had a punt blocked in 2009 vs. Mississippi State.
4: Jordyn Peters' blocked punt against Arkansas was the fourth of his career – he had three during the 2018 season. It was the first blocked punt for a touchdown by Auburn since the 2018 Alabama State game (blocked by Peters, recovered by Devan Barrett).
