From the Podium: Carnell Williams, 'truly proud' of Auburn's team after loss at Mississippi State

Auburn was down by 18 heading into halftime when interim head coach Carnell Williams said that they were “going to keep fighting.”

He wasn’t kidding.

The Tigers came out and scored 22 unanswered points in the second half to eventually take the lead, 25-24.

Although Auburn outscored Mississippi State 27-9 in the second half, they eventually fell short in overtime, 39-33.

Anders Carlson accounted for all six of Auburn’s points in the first half, but quarterback Robby Ashford had two touchdown runs in the third quarter. Tank Bigsby ran the ball for a 41-yard touchdown to take the lead, 25-24 with just five minutes left in the ballgame. Jarquez Hunter finished off Auburn’s scoring with an eight-yard run into the end zone.

Ashford had just a 32% pass completion rate today with just seven complete passes. He led the team with rushing attempts, though, with 18 for 108 yards.

Auburn struggled with penalties once again this weekend. The offense had ten penalties for 85 total yards, four being false starts.

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Williams was emotional during his press conferences after tonight’s game, expressing how grateful and proud he is of the team. In the majority of his answers, he talks about the fight that each player had and is forced to pause to collect his words in order to express how he feels.

Lets hear from Coach Carnell Williams

Coach’s words on this past week as a whole:

“First of all, when the news broke on Monday, wow, so many kids were just hurt- so just unsure, just everybody worrying about what’s next- so much uncertainty around the program, such a tough week. Man, our kids responded so well. I told the coaches, everybody who touches our kids, they need us in this time. They need our leadership. I told them, as us being adults, we can take it, we sign up for this. I challenged the coaching staff, along with the personnel, everybody, these next four weeks, so much uncertainty in what’s next. My message is: If you worry about the now- which are these kids and where your feet are- your next, whatever is next for you, is going to take care of itself. I’m proud of these kids, truly proud of them.”

Message to the team after this loss:

“It’s weird, we definitely failed the mission, what we came to do. I said I don’t know about y’all, I honestly felt like we won this game and we didn’t. But, a lot of people have no idea what took place last night through Chapel. We had eight kids give their life to christ. It was so powerful last night. I told those guys… No matter, win, lose or draw, tomorrow night- yes we want to win the football- but Auburn football, we will be okay. I said don’t you put your head down. This is a lesson, we are going to learn so much from this and we’re going to be able to grow from this.”

“I’m honored to be those guys’ coach.”

🗣@CoachCaddy24

After what he called a “rocky week,” @AuburnFootball interim HC Carnell Williams says of the Tigers, “They need us… they’ve got to feel that we care for them.”#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/la0I8ySOot

— Jeff Shearer (@jeff_shearer) November 6, 2022

What caused the turnaround in the ballgame?

“Serve and believe. Serve and believe. Again, serve and believe. That’s been the message all freaking week. We’ve been hammering these guys. Serve. Serve… Honestly, coming at half time, we were down 24-6, these guys were like ‘coach we got you. We got you coach. Everybody is together.’ It was amazing to see that we were down and see all of that positive energy.”

“Just the defense, early on… Those guys, they just kept serving, kept fighting… I said yesterday, we’re either going to fight or quit- nobody quit. I haven’t experienced Auburn football in that way this year. The energy, the believe the kids had, I told them that I know the Auburn family is proud of those guys.”

Auburn’s need of discipline as a ball club

Carnell Williams is taking blame for some of the reasons that went into the loss at Mississippi State

“They fought, they served each other, they believed. Now, we’ve just got to get better with the discipline part of it. We did some things that will get you beat. That starts with myself. (As he raises his hand) It’s not on all these kids, they fought their tail off. I could have done some things better. I really could have.”

On special teams mistakes late in the game:

“That’s where the discipline part has got to come in and honestly, it’s totally on me. I am a firm believer that you get what you emphasize. I’ve emphasized two things all week, serve and believe. I just added the discipline part today. So it’s serve, discipline, believe. So, those kids are going to get better. They had a lot going on… Kids make mistakes. We, as a whole, have got to get better with the discipline. That is something that I did not emphasize, so don’t look to the kids, that is completely on me.”

Next week

Carnell Williams wants to emphasize the fact that the players need the “Auburn family” to be in Jordan-Hare stadium next week

“Auburn family- if you’re listening, if you hear me, support this staff. Support these kids. They need the Auburn family, because I’m a living witness of, if you love Auburn, Auburn will love you back. These kids need the Auburn family, that Auburn spirit. They’re going to fight. What a great atmosphere it is going to be on Saturday. I’m getting chills just thinking about it, goosebumps.