I left out these details in this week's column as it was already running long, but Mississippi State has a weird history of messing up the debut seasons of Auburn head coaches.
I trust nobody here needs a recap of the wheels coming off the Potato Wagon during the second half against State in 2021.
Prior to that, Tommy Tuberville's first team had Jackie Sherrill's Other Bulldogs dead to rights. Auburn had gotten blanked in Knoxville the week before, and hadn't played well since Ben Leard suffered an injury against Ole Miss, but they absolutely dominated State for three quarters, leading 16-0 with a minute left in the third quarter... and then comprehensively blew it, giving up 18 unanswered points, including two touchdowns in the last 3 minutes. Adlai Trone let a game-clinching interception slip through his fingers on State's game-winning score in the final seconds. The second of a modern-era unprecedented four-game losing streak to State and a gut-wrenching loss that stuck with the team for the rest of October, it was made even worse because of Tuberville's (and Auburn's) bitter history with Sherrill.
1981 was almost as bad. It was a back-and-forth game, Auburn trailed at halftime but pulled ahead 17-14 as Pat Dye's first defense shut State down for almost all of the second half. Almost. On a fourth and short with about a minute left, Auburn tried to draw State offsides and botched the snap, turning the ball over on downs. John Bond (the same SOB who was involved with trying to pay off Cecil Newton at State 30-odd years later) managed a touchdown drive to steal a win... which was made worse by the presence of none other than Doug Barfield as State's OC. The upside, such as it was: State didn't seriously challenge Auburn again until catching a reeling AU in the snakebit 1991 season.
One bad trio of games. Glad we didn't see a #4 last weekend.
I trust nobody here needs a recap of the wheels coming off the Potato Wagon during the second half against State in 2021.
Prior to that, Tommy Tuberville's first team had Jackie Sherrill's Other Bulldogs dead to rights. Auburn had gotten blanked in Knoxville the week before, and hadn't played well since Ben Leard suffered an injury against Ole Miss, but they absolutely dominated State for three quarters, leading 16-0 with a minute left in the third quarter... and then comprehensively blew it, giving up 18 unanswered points, including two touchdowns in the last 3 minutes. Adlai Trone let a game-clinching interception slip through his fingers on State's game-winning score in the final seconds. The second of a modern-era unprecedented four-game losing streak to State and a gut-wrenching loss that stuck with the team for the rest of October, it was made even worse because of Tuberville's (and Auburn's) bitter history with Sherrill.
1981 was almost as bad. It was a back-and-forth game, Auburn trailed at halftime but pulled ahead 17-14 as Pat Dye's first defense shut State down for almost all of the second half. Almost. On a fourth and short with about a minute left, Auburn tried to draw State offsides and botched the snap, turning the ball over on downs. John Bond (the same SOB who was involved with trying to pay off Cecil Newton at State 30-odd years later) managed a touchdown drive to steal a win... which was made worse by the presence of none other than Doug Barfield as State's OC. The upside, such as it was: State didn't seriously challenge Auburn again until catching a reeling AU in the snakebit 1991 season.
One bad trio of games. Glad we didn't see a #4 last weekend.
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