Auburn football instant analysis: Defense, defense, more defense wins it

The No. 10 Auburn football team endured a lengthy weather delay and another uneven performance on offense to beat a pesky Southern Miss team Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The game was delayed for 2 hours, 44 minutes because of bad weather in the area. The delay hit with just less than 5 minutes to play in the second quarter.

Auburn found some success in the passing game, but again struggled running the ball and even lost its top runner JaTarvious Whitlow to an upper body injury.

But the offensive issues many hoped Auburn would iron out last week against Arkansas and this week against Southern Miss still could use a hot iron.

Why Auburn won

Defense, defense, defense.

What else?

The offense was all over the place again, but the defense remained consistent and came up with stop after stop when Southern Miss came within one score in the fourth quarter.

Southern Miss totaled 260 yards, but 34 of those came on the final two plays when Auburn conceded large chunks while forcing USM to run out the clock.

It was a group effort on defense — the defensive line was aggressive, the linebackers were salty and the defensive backs have made big strides since the Week 1 victory against Washington.

Turning point, Part I, II and III

After Southern Miss cut the lead to 21-13 and then forced Auburn into a 3-and-out, the defense had one of its best series of plays.

• First-and-10: Smoke Monday shuts down a pass play for a 1-yard gain.
• Second-and-9: Nick Coe stops the ballcarrier for a 1-yard loss.
• Third-and-10: Pass falls incomplete with Monday right on the receiver. If he caught it, it would have been short of the sticks. Southern Miss punted.

And let’s go ahead and mark up the next possession. Southern Miss stops Auburn, get the ball back at its 25:

• First-and-10: Incomplete pass
• Second-and-10: Deshaun Davis makes the stop for a 2-yard loss
• Third-and-10: Incomplete pass

Then, on what might have been the toughest situation at all after a Stidham fumble gave Southern Miss the ball at its 49, the defense did it again:

• First-and-10: Darrell Williams stops a pass play for a 2-yard loss.
• Second-and-17: After a penalty, freshman Christian Tutt picked off a deflected pass and returned it 24 yards to the USM 25. That led to Anders Carlson’s 23-yard field goal that sealed the outcome.

Play of the game

After going three-and-out on its first two possessions and gaining just 10 yards on six plays, Auburn needed a spark. The defense was shutting down Southern Miss and special teams even created another short field.

So Chip Lindsey dialed up a deep pass to freshman Seth Williams, who outleaped a Southern Miss defender and came down with the ball for what looked like a way-too-easy 46-yard touchdown grab.

That score put Auburn ahead 7-0 and the Tigers looked like they had a little pep in their step on offense for the rest of the first half.

What’s next for Auburn football?

Auburn (4-1, 1-1 in SEC) travels to Starkville to play Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 6. Game time is 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. ET. The game is the first of five consecutive SEC contests for the Tigers. Mississippi State lost to Florida on Saturday, 13-6, and has lost two in a row in SEC play.