AUBURN | Cadillac Williams made a difference. A huge difference.

Auburn’s interim head coach also took responsibility for a tough 39-33 overtime loss at Mississippi State Saturday night in a game the Tigers showed as much grit and toughness as they have all season.

It was a refreshing turn after week upon week of uninspiring play followed by a postgame full of excuses from the former coach, who was fired Monday.

“They fought, they served each other. They believe,” said Williams of his players. “Now we just got to get better with the discipline part of it. We did some things that, you know, will get you beat, and that’s starting with myself. So, it’s not on all these kids, man. They fought their tails off. You know, I could’ve done some things better. I really could have.”

Williams stuck with the running game despite falling behind 24-3 midway through the second quarter. Auburn scored three unanswered touchdowns, all on runs, in the second half to take a 25-24 lead with 6:36 left in the fourth quarter.

After MSU scored a touchdown to retake the lead, AU marched 75 yards to go up 33-30 with 1:05 left. MSU was able to tie it with a late field goal and then win in overtime.

AU out-scored MSU 27-9 in the second half after being out-scored 106-47 in the second half of the previous six Power 5 games this season.

“This night was special for me. All day, just felt right. I honestly, when I woke up, I told them guys, I said, ‘we’re going to win this game. We’re going to win this game.’ The energy was just different,” said Williams. “You’ve seen it in those kids’ eyes, and then to get in this stadium—I mean, you got to think, we went down; I don’t know how much we went down, but like I told them, forget the scoreboard. We’re going to keep fighting, keep punching. Came into halftime, we’re down literally 24-6, something like that, maybe, I don’t know. But man, them kids, they didn’t blink. They did not blink. Like, ‘Coach, we got you. Nobody’s quitting. We’re going to continue to serve. We’re going to continue to bleed. We’re going to continue to fight. We’re going to continue to fight on offense, man.’

“We laid an egg in the first half, challenged those guys, and they responded. They responded. Now we—we got to do a better job of getting them prepared, putting them in better position, and that starts with me. Like I told those guys, this is on me. This is on me here. Take this one. I’m proud of those guys.”

Auburn, 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the SEC, hosts Texas A&M (3-6, 1-5) next Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.