First year head football coach Sylvester Croom promised no embarrassments this season. Saturday’s 43-14 loss to No. 14 Auburn came close.
“We have a long way to go. I’ve been saying that a long time,” Croom said. “I do not think that we gave our best out there today. I do not even know that if we had given our best that we would have won.”
“But I know that is not as good as we can play,” Croom added. “I told our players in the locker room that if they think that is as good as they can play, then they are in the wrong place.”
Auburn running backs Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown ripped through the Mississippi State defense for 269 of the team’s 283 net rushing yards.
“We earned what we got today,” said Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville. “We didn’t throw the ball as much, but when you’re running the ball like we were running, we just wanted to grind the clock.”
Williams followed his record six touchdown performance a year ago against the Bulldogs with 122 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns. The performance earned him SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The SEC Web site said 100 of Williams’s 122 yards came after contact from Mississippi State defenders.
“Me and Ronnie kinda got loose and made plays,” Williams said.
Auburn bolted out of the gates on the first play from scrimmage when Brown ripped a 13-yard run right through the heart of the MSU defense. Ten plays later quarterback Jason Campbell completed his first of three touchdown passes to cap Auburn’s 75-yard opening drive.
“What hurt ’em was we drove the ball down the field that first drive,” Campbell said. “That’ll take a lot out of any team at home because it takes the crowd out of it.”
On Auburn’s next possession, after a Mississippi State three-and-out, Williams racked up 52 more yards on five carries. He rolled over State defenders like speed bumps but never slowed en route to the end zone.
“I think we were just clicking on offense,” Williams explained. “Most of the time it didn’t really matter what the down or distance was.”
Not to be outdone, Brown carried the pigskin 15 times for 147 yards.
“I knew that they were NFL-quality backs. I looked at them for a couple of years when I was at Green Bay,” Croom said. “You will see them playing on Sunday next year. I knew going into the game what we would be facing. I just thought we would tackle better than that.”
The Tiger offensive line cleared massive holes time and time again.
“We challenged our offensive line. That was our main emphasis all week,” Tuberville said. “I told them if we were going to win this game, we were going to by running the football.”
“(The offensive line) deserves all the credit. Me and Ronnie get a lot of ink, but what they did today–coming off the ball and stuff made our day a lot easier,” Williams said.
Offensive tackle Troy Reddick earned the SEC’s Offensive Lineman of the Week. The Web site credited Reddick with making 100 percent of his blocking assignments against State.
With Auburn deep in its own territory at the 11, Brown scampered 59 yards running over, around and through MSU defenders. The run set up Campbell’s 25-yard touchdown strike to Ben Obomanu. The score put Auburn up 21-0 at the break.
MSU quarterback Omarr Conner completed his first seven passes of the afternoon, but an anemic running game kept the Bulldogs from getting inside the Auburn 30 yard line for the first three quarters of the game.
“I thought if we could have scored on the first drive coming out of halftime, then we could have had a chance to get back into the game,” Croom said.
But the Mississippi State offense never hit on all cylinders. On their first two possessions after halftime the Dawgs went three-and-out.
Week One SEC Offensive Player of the Week, Jerious Norwood, gained only 41 yards on nine attempts.
“Defensively, we made a lot of big plays and the first team put up a shut out until we put in our second team,” Tuberville said.
The Bulldog rushing attack gained just 81 yards rushing (51 rushing yards over the first three quarters). Conner finished with 113 yards passing. He completed two of nine passes in the second half and finished 16 of 26.
After limiting the Tulane Green Wave to 70 rushing yards and 205 total yards in the season opener, State allowed 465 total yards.
Kyle York stepped in when the game was out of Mississippi State’s reach. York completed eight of 10 passes for 77 yards and threw both of State’s touchdowns to Jason Husband.
To be able to compete with the talent level of SEC teams like Auburn, Croom says the Bulldogs have to do some serious recruiting over the next year.
“I think it was obvious today that our talent level has to improve,” Croom said. “We’re going to have to recruit awful hard this year and there’s a great opportunity for young men to come in here and play in every area of our football team. Our talent level must improve if we expect to be a championship football team.”
Williams and Campbell said the Bulldogs played harder Saturday than they did a year ago, but Auburn just executed better. Tuberville agreed.
“Mississippi State played hard, much improved from last year, very disciplined,” he said. “They’ll have a good football team if they keep up the intensity that they are playing with.”