Auburn football: Observations from watching highlights from Week 5 win

With every game, win or lose, come highlights. Despite having a bad taste after the Auburn football team beat Southern Miss on Saturday night, there were plenty of plays to enjoy.

Each week, Auburn football compiles the best plays from the game. As you’ll see, most of the highlights in the 24-13 come from the defensive side, but the offense did have its moments.

The one thing that was clear Saturday is that the defense continues getting better. On the flip side, the offense remains stagnant.

Auburn travels to Mississippi State on Saturday for the first of five consecutive SEC games.

Here are the highlights:

https://twitter.com/AuburnFootball/status/1046239906236952576

Some observations from looking back at the big plays:

• How many times did you see Deshaun Davis, Darrell Williams and others stretch plays wide and limit Southern Miss to next-to-nothing on the ground? The days of missed tackles are long gone. This time hits you, wraps up and brings down ball-carriers.
• Jordyn Peters is breaking out on special teams. Yes, he benefited from a botched punt Saturday, but he’s in on nearly every tackle on special teams, too.
• On the Jarrett Stidham-to-Seth Williams TD pass: Stidham took a serious lick. Did he even see what Williams catch it? You have to applaud him for staying in there and unleashing a strike. At the end of the play, Williams shows a little attitude with a push to the Southern Miss DB. You like to see your receivers have an edge to them.
• Prince Tega Wanogho had a big block on Anthony Schwartz’s TD run and Chandler Cox made sure no one was going to touch him. Schwartz carried one other time for a limited gain. We’d like to see a few more attempts with him — if he turns the corner, it could be a touchdown.
• How good has Noah Igbinoghene been at corner? Every time a ball is thrown his way he’s step for step with his man. His speed is obvious but he’s growing more confident every week. The secondary has made big strides since Week 1.
• Shoutout to Malik Miller, who picked up a huge first down on third-and-long. Miller, who has seen little playing time this season, likely saw a bump in the second half for pass-protection purposes. The bigger back is better at holding off pass-rushers and when he gets the ball and a head of steam, look out.
• If you didn’t see the Derrick Brown sack of Jack Abraham, make sure you stop at the 2:10 mark of the video to see the play he made. You’ll see Mr. Brown on Sundays, folks.

• Stidham puts his third quarter 53-yard completion to Darius Slayton on the money. He’s as good as they come when throwing the deep ball (and having the time to unleash it).
• Freshman CB Christian Tutt came down with a huge interception. The three freshman DBs (Tutt, Smoke Monday, Jamien Sherwood) are playing good ball.