The Road to Glendale (2)

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STARKVILLE, Miss. – It was Nick Fairley’s coming out party.

Fairley, a junior defensive tackle, had shown flashes of brilliance late in the 2009 season, his first at Auburn after spending two seasons at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. But he wasn’t even preseason All-Southeastern Conference, much less viewed as future Lombardi Award winner.

On Sept. 9, a Thursday, Auburn went to Davis Wade Stadium to take on Mississippi State. And Fairley showed up in a big way. Fairley had three sacks, 3. 5 tackles for losses, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble as No. 21 Auburn held on for dear life to win 17-14.

“My ends got pressure across the board,” Fairley said. “I made them step up so I could make a couple plays. The defense overall, we did well. We came into tonight, and we said we would have to hold them down because they had a good offense. We just wanted to get our offense the ball, and we did that tonight."

It was special night for quarterback Cam Newton. He had played for Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen for two seasons when Mullen was offensive coordinator at Florida. After the game, Newton had an emotional reunion with Mullen and Mullen’s wife, Megan.

Statistically, it was Newton’s least productive game of the season. He completed 11-of-19 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. He threw an interception and was sacked twice. He ran 18 times for 70 yards.

Mississippi State managed just 246 yards of offense.

Auburn broke fast out of the gate, taking a 7-0 lead on a 39-yard pass from Newton to Emory Blake with 11:22 left in the first quarter. Mississippi State tied with 2:30 left in the quarter when quarterback Chris Relf fumbled into the end zone and Gabe Jackson recovered.

Auburn went back on top on a 12-yard pass from Newton to Darvin Adams with 8:37 left in the half and went up 17-7 on a 34-yard Wes Byrum field goal 4:29 left.

Mississippi State pulled closer on a 1-yard Vic Ballard run with 8:55 left in the third quarter.

As time ran short, Auburn drove to the Mississippi State 20, using up 6:08. But with 2:19 left in the game, Byrum’s field goal attempt was blocked. The Bulldogs had one last chance. They moved to a first down at the Auburn 41 after a pass interference call on third-and-14. But four Relf passes fell incomplete and Auburn escaped with a victory to move to 2-0.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik saluted his defense and coordinator Ted Roof.

"Coach Roof had a great game plan for a very potent offense,” Chizik said. “I thought the players played extremely hard and they executed what we ask them to do most of the time about as good as we could do it. We didn't play perfect, but I think Coach Roof had them in the right spots and they played physical and hard.

“It was encouraging to see them play as hard as they did, because they were relentless down to the last snap. I was proud to see that."


Key statistics

TEAM

First downs: Auburn 21, MSU 16

Rushing yards: Auburn 190, MSU 117

Passing yards: Auburn 158, MSU 129

Passes: Auburn 12-21-1, MSU 16-35-1

Total offense: Auburn 348, MSU 246

Sacks by: Auburn 3, MSU `2

Fumbles-lost: Auburn 1, MSU 1

Third-down conversions: Auburn 6-14, MSU 5-15

Time of possession: Auburn 31:48, MSU 28:12

Penalties-yards: Auburn 4-35, MSU 2-25

INDIVIDUAL

RUSHING

Auburn: Cam Newton 18-70, 0 TD; Onterio McCalebb 12-68, Mike Dyer 9-50.

MSU: Chad Bumphis 3-27, 0 TD; Chris Relf 14-26, 0 TD.

PASSING

Auburn: Cam Newton 11-19-1, 136 yards, 1 TD.

MSU: Chris Relf 12-26-0, 110 yards, 0 TD.

RECEIVING

Auburn: Terrell Zachery 4-32, 0 TD; Darvin Adams 3-38, 1 TD; Emory Blake 2-39, 1 TD.

MSU: Chad Bumphis 5-34, 0 TD; Arceto Clark 2-28, 0 TD.

DEFENSE

Auburn: Eltoro Freeman 9 tackles, 1 TFL; Aairon Savage 6 tackles; Josh Bynes 6 tackles; Zac Etheridge 6 tackles; Nick Fairley 5 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 1 INT, 1 FR, 3 QBH.

MSU: Chris White 11 tackles, 1 TFL; K.J. Wright 10 tackles, 1 INT; Pernell McPhee 6 tackles, 1.5 TFL.