Quotes of Note: Auburn coaches, players talk OT loss at Mississippi State

After a slow start, Auburn took the lead in the fourth quarter, 25-24, with 21 unanswered points.

Mississippi State reclaimed the lead, 25-30, with under four minutes left. Auburn answered, however, with a touchdown and two-point conversion to take the lead once again, 33-30. The Bulldogs tied up the ballgame at 33 with a 44 yard field goal, heading into overtime and ultimately won, 39-33.

With just four first downs in the first half, the only points on the board for the Tigers were two field goals by Anders Carlson heading into the locker room for halftime.

In the third quarter alone, the Tigers’ offense was able to begin drives in Bulldog territory three times because of the effort on the defensive side of the ball. Two of those three drives resulted in touchdowns.

To contribute to the positive performance of the defense, Auburn forced two fumbles and had an interception today. Colby Wooden and Derick Hall each recorded a fumble in the first half and Jaylin Simpson caught the interception in the third quarter, the second on Simpson’s career.

The Tigers’ defense also had a season high of five sacks tonight. Hall led with two, but Colby Wooden, Jeffrey M’Ba and Marcus Harris each had one.

The Auburn broadcast features interviews from assistant coaches and players. Let’s hear from them.

Co-Offensive Coordinator, Will Friend

What the offense did better in the second half:

“We blocked a little better in the second half, that was better. This offensive staff did a great job… A lot of guys in roles that they hadn’t been in and just kind of got in there and got together really did a good job getting these players ready to go.”

Penalty battle:

“It did and it’s something that we’ve got to fix and we’ll go to work on it and be better next week.”

Message to the offense leading into next week’s game:

“Like I told them the first day I talked to them- talking to the offensive unit- they’ve been fighting and if they’ll continue to do that, they’ll continue to improve. They did that this week and they did it tonight… I know the ultimate goal is wins and losses, but there’s also something about handling adversity in life and doing those types of things. I think they learned something tonight about what you’re supposed to do.”

Linebackers coach, Christian Robinson

What the message was this week when preparing for Mississippi State:

“When coach Williams came in at the beginning of the week and just talked about the mission coming into Starkville, we wanted to focus on serving and believing. That was the message this week…”

Robinson on using more of a variety of guys in tonight’s game:

“We did, we had a lot of guys that had a great week of practice that we could depend on to understand the game plan and could let us be fresh and go four quarters and beyond. To see a lot of guys take a lot of reps, a lot of upperclassmen that got an opportunity- I was very proud of them and what they did and we can build off that.”

Auburn’s defensive show tonight, especially in the second half:

“We tightened up our coverage and we were where we needed to be. When the quarterback holds the ball, especially when he’s looking down the field, that’s when we can take a shot at it. We had some turnovers that really kept the momentum and kept the guys fighting. I was excited about how we responded to being down and fighting our way back.”

Auburn Quarterback, Robby Ashford

Using this game to build off of:

“I feel like we can, I feel like this is probably the best we’ve fought all year. When we came back in the second half, we played Auburn football. Our defense played their butts off and we’ve got to help them out more… We’ve just got to come out, keep believing in each other and know God’s got a plan for us and just keep working.”

How the offense improved in the second half:

“Just relaxing and just knowing we can go out there and do it. I feel like we were uptight and just pressing too much. We had mental mistakes that just killed us- self inflicted wounds. We still had some, but we were able to overcome that… This one hurts, when you have it in the bag and you just let it slip.”

Defensive End, Colby Wooden

Coach Williams’ message to the team and how this past week went:

“All week, coach just preached to us, fight. He didn’t care if we win, lose, or draw- as long as we fought and did it the Auburn way- he was fine with the outcome. Looking back on it, we left everything on the field. Obviously it’s not the outcome we wanted, but I can take that.”

“This week has just been full of emotions, up and down. Luckily, we found a way to stay together. That’s the most important thing- stay together and fight. Coach, his whole message this week was to serve, discipline, and believe- SDB- and I feel like we did all three. Obviously we’ve got to take it to the next level so we can come out with a victory.”