AUBURN defeats SOUTHERN MISS 43-8
Alex Golesh was pleased with the outcome but said there was still a lot to work on as Auburn (2-0) defeated the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss (1-1) 43-8 in Jordan-Hare.
Two plays after lightning delayed the kickoff, Oregon State/UCLA transfer cornerback Andre Jordan Jr. picked off the first Ethan Hampton pass of the game and ran it back 29 yards to put Auburn up 7-0 almost instantly. It would be 1 of 2 interceptions for Hampton on a day that saw him go 18/27 on what were mostly short passes (average 5.4 yards) as the Auburn defense held Southern Miss to 221 yards of total offense and 1 touchdown.
21 penalty flags were thrown: 10 of them were against Auburn. Holding calls stopped several promising drives as the offense had no problem moving the ball forward. Overly strict enforcement coupled with early season decision making plagued the Tigers. Southern Miss had issues of their own especially at the beginning of the game. The Golden Eagles were ill prepared for the volume of Jordan-Hare. That will be extremely important next week when the Gators come to town.
The second Auburn touchdown of the day came on a 22-yard Byrum Brown pass to Jonathan Echols with 2:51 left in the 1st quarter. The 8-play, 93-yard drive put Auburn up 14-0. Four plays later Ethan Hampton would throw his second interception of the game (again to Andre Jordan Jr.) and Auburn would go up 17-0 thanks to a 47-yard Alex McPherson field goal.
After another long drive in the 2nd quarter (8 plays, 85 yards) Auburn would score again thanks in large part to a 45-yard pass to Jeremiah Koger. Byrum Brown finished the drive off with an 8-yard TD pass to Deshawn Spencer. Southern Miss returned the favor with their only scoring drive of the day (14 plays, 75 yards).
Auburn would receive the ball back before halftime with only 19 seconds on the clock. After four quick Byrum Brown passes, the Tigers were in field goal range. This time Alex McPherson kicked a 55-yard field goal that put Auburn up 27-8 at the break.
We don't know what Alex Golesh said to his team, but Auburn came out of the locker room and went 65 yards in 12 plays to put the game out of reach. The drive ended with a Chris Neptune pass to Byrum Brown. A quarterback who catches touchdown passes… where have we seen that before?
The offense kept the ball on the ground for a majority of the remainder of the game. One last touchdown drive was built on the backs of Omar Mabson (RB2) and Bryson Washington (RB3). Mabson actually led the team in rushing with 108 yards on 15 carries. Starting RB Jeremiah Cobb was 3rd in rushing (85 yards) behind QB Byrum Brown (88 yards). Auburn averaged 6.7 yards per carry with 343 yards rushing on 51 carries.
Check back early next week for a preview of the SEC opener against the Florida Gators, and congrats to Alex G. on the victory in his Jordan-Hare debut.
War Eagle!
- Thomas Porter
Just a thought... War Eagle VIII aka Aurea is a golden eagle. That means Auburn had a live version of the opposing teams mascot present at the game.
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