(16) AUBURN 19, MISSISSIPPI 9
AUBURN, Ala. -- Fred Beasley powered in from 3 yards with the
go-ahead score in the third quarter and linebacker Ryan Taylor
had a pivotal safety, rallying 16th-ranked Auburn to a 19-9
victory over Mississippi for its 19th straight home-opening win.
Beasley set up the score the play before, running through the
left side of his line before bouncing outside for 19 yards. He
erased a three-point deficit one play later, moving the pile
forward into the end zone. The 225-pound fullback finished with
42 yards.
Ole Miss cut it to 10-9 just 16 seconds into the fourth quarter
on Steve Lindsey's third field goal, a 45-yarder. After an Auburn
punt, Ole Miss had the ball on its own 7 when Taylor came on a
blitz and sacked Stewart Patridge in the end zone for a safety.
Last week, Taylor returned an interception 25 yards for a
touchdown against Virginia.
"(Defensive) coach Joe Whitt had just told me to watch for the
bootleg," Taylor said. "I just did my job."
After the free kick, Dameyune Craig drove the Tigers down the
field and hit Tyrone Goodsen on a fade pattern in the back left
corner of the end zone, capping the scoring. Craig completed
19-of-29 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown to become the
seventh Auburn player to reach 3,000 yards passing for his
career. Goodsen had six catches for 137 yards for the Tigers
(2-0, 1-0 SEC).
"We kept our heads up and kept our poise," said Craig. "The
defense kept us in it until we could get going."
"I am real proud of our young men," said Auburn coach Terry
Bowden. "It was a great football game. The judgement is still out
on us. We are showing veteran experience, but we could not make
the big plays."
Patridge was sacked seven times and knocked to the ground on
numerous occasions, one time losing his helmet after a hit. He
managed to hit on 9-of-18 for 143 yards and an interception for
Ole Miss (2-1, 0-1), which lost its fifth straight SEC opener.
"It is a tough loss," said Patridge. "We had opportunities, but
we didn't capitalize."
A sluggish first half saw the teams exchange first-quarter field
goals, with Jaret Holmes connecting early from 26 yards out for
Auburn before Lindsey countered from 52. Lindsey's 23-yarder
midway through the third quarter broke the deadlock, but Beasley
scored less than four minutes later as Auburn regained the lead.
(16) AUBURN 19, Mississippi 9
1 2 3 4 F
- - - - --
Mississippi 3 0 3 3 9
Auburn (16) 3 0 7 9 19
Auburn-FG Holmes 26
Mississippi-FG Lindsey 52
Mississippi-FG Lindsey 23
Auburn-F Beasley 3 run (Holmes kick)
Mississippi-FG Lindsey 45
Auburn-Safety, Patridge tackled in end zone
Auburn-Goodson 17 pass from Craig (Holmes kick)
Mississippi Auburn
First downs 13 19
Rushed-yards 35-94 39-121
Passing yards 143 245
Sacked-yards lost 7-28 1-7
Return yards 21 59
Passes 9-22-1 19-29-0
Punts 4-42.5 4-43.3
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 7-54 5-63
Time of possession 24:25 35:35
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Mississippi-Cannion 13-47, McAllister 13-45, Reed 2-30,
Miller 1-minus 8, Patridge 6-minus 20. Auburn-R Williams 12-54, F
Beasley 8-42, Craig 12-10, Cooper 3-9, Pennington 4-6.
PASSING: Mississippi-Patridge 9-18-1-143, Miller 0-4-0-0.
Auburn-Craig 19-29-0-245.
RECEIVING: Mississippi-French 3-34, Rone 2-39, Reed 2-12, G Heard
1-53, Anding 1-5. Auburn-Goodson 6-137, Cooper 4-14, Poor 3-27,
Bailey 2-36, Robinson 2-18, F Beasley 1-7, R Williams 1-6.
Att: 81,203
Courtesy: InfoBeat Sports