Inside the Locker Room: Auburn players discuss tough first SEC win

AUBURN- After a scoreless second half, Auburn defeats Missouri, 17-14, in overtime on Saturday.

The Tigers gained a quick 14-0 lead by scoring in their first two drives, but struggled to keep the momentum going into the second quarter and did not score another touchdown for the remainder of the game. At the end of the first half, the Tigers had 122 yards on offense and finished the game with just 217.

On the defensive side, Auburn produced its first turnover of the season in the first quarter. A tipped ball by Nehemiah Pritchett was caught by Derick Hall and brought inside the redzone to start off the Tigers’ second drive of the ballgame. The Tigers defense improved on overall pressure today, doubling their sacks on the season with four in this game.

Let’s hear about the first SEC win from the players.

RELATED LINKS:

Grading the Tigers

Takeaways

Inside the Numbers

Robby Ashford

For his first Auburn career start, quarterback Robby Ashford led the team in rushing yards with -. Of only six passing attempts, Ashford completed five for 45 yards in the first half. In the third quarter, his arm seemed to get banged up, but came back in for the first drive of the fourth quarter and stayed in for the remainder of the ballgame.

Ashford on bouncing back after Auburn’s game last week:

“It was great. Our defense played their butts off. You can’t thank them enough. We didn’t have a great game on offense. It was slow. Missouri played a great game on defense. They played a heck of a game on defense. Our defense totally trashed them and it’s all we could do. Shout out to the defense and our team for persevering and never giving up. I love this team. It’s a great win. No matter how hard it was. No matter how ugly it was. It was a great team win.”

Ashford on this week’s preparation as QB1:

“I go into every week preparing like I’m the starter. It was just going out there and going off my preparation. Since I’ve played in three games already, I knew there was a chance I could be the starter this week. I had to step up and be that guy for my team.”

Derick Hall

Defensive lineman Derick Hall led the team in sacks today with two, each for a loss of five yards. Hall also caught his first career interception in the first quarter and was second on the team with six total tackles.

Hall on the final play of the game:

“It was crazy. They ran an inside zone but it was more of a stretch look. I am running behind him trying to get him down. He sticks the ball out and all I see is it come out. I am like, ‘oh my gosh, oh my gosh.’ I mean that’s all that went through my head. The rest is history.”

How the defense rebounded from last weekend:

“It was huge. Last week, the first half, they only had 69 rushing yards and then we just gave them up in the second half. Being able to come out and stop the run was huge for us. Just being able to get them to third and long and in long situations, being able to pressure the quarterback after that was huge for us. We stopped the run and I feel like we were effective in the pass game.”

Anders Carlson

Kicker Anders Carlson made the game-winning kick in overtime, but missed the first attempt that was not counted because of an offside penalty by Missouri. The field goal attempt that won the ballgame was 39 yards.

Carlson on being able to get a second chance at OT field goal:

“I was thinking through what I wanted to do, and the first thing was adjusting the tempo issue. I kind of saw him come offsides twice and that’s on me. I freaked out, but when my tempo was good I was on point.”

Carlson on having the back of Auburn’s offense:

“I think it is belief. It is something we have talked about a lot. Things are not going to go your way sometimes. I did not have my best game at all today, but I believed in myself and was able to do what I wanted to do, and the same thing goes for the team. Some drives were shortened and did not go the way we wanted them to, but if we believe we are going to win the game, we will find a way.”

Owen Pappoe

Linebacker Owen Pappoe led the team with eight sacks, seven of which were solo.

Pappoe on what worked well for the Auburn defense today:

“Really just doing what we do in practice- just defending the run, utilizing our help, guys being where they need to be and guys just exciting their job at a high level.”

“We’ve been repping that all week in practice. Since camp, that’s a big emphasis for us, that we need to get turnovers. We finally got one today and we definitely fed off that energy. We had a couple of hiccups in the second quarter, but I think, for most of the game, we played our hearts out.”

“We’re happy, we got a win. It’s on to the next.”