Auburn Tigers blank Mississippi State 28-0

By William Robinson  |   Saturday, September 10, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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The Mississippi State Bulldogs traveled to the Plains today to take on the Auburn Tigers for what was the SEC opener for each team. Auburn fans can breathe a small sigh of relief after today's 28-0 shutout of the Bulldogs. Auburn sophomore quarterback Brandon Cox redeemed himself nicely after last weeks poor outing that left some Tigers' fans worried. Cox put the critics to rest this afternoon, hitting on 12 of18 passes for 202 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.

Auburn's running game also started to show signs of life and doubled last week's yardage. Although the running game improved, it is very clear that this running back by committee system has a lot of work to do if they want to keep piling up SEC wins. Tre Smith, Kenny Irons, Carl Stewart and Brad Lester combined on the day for 107 yards on 33 carries.

The Bulldogs' offense was stifled by the Auburn defense all day and was only able to manage 207 yards of total offense. Auburn's success on defense was fueled mostly by a relentless pass rush. Five different Auburn players recorded a sack. Auburn free safety Will Herring led the team with 5 tackles and made what might be the defensive play of the night when he recovered a Bulldog fumble in the endzone for a touchdown.

Even when the Bulldogs did manage to get a receiver open and give quarterback Omarr Conner time to throw, he just couldn't hit his targets, finishing 10 of 19 for 112 yards.

The Bulldogs were simply overmatched in almost all aspects of this game, but Auburn Tigers fans know that their team is capable of playing much better. At the very least, some of the pressure from last week's loss has been eased.
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