NASHVILLE | There was the extra pushing and shoving, the personal foul penalties. As Auburn’s lead grew, so did the frustration from Purdue’s players.

The Tigers’ defenders were visibly upset, especially Derrick Brown and Darrell Williams who were involved in several post-whistle melees. Big Kat Bryant said it started with some questionable Purdue tactics.

“They were playing dirty,” Bryant said. “At first, they were talking smack at us the whole game. Things got a little heated when the game got out of whack and they were just — I'm gonna be honest … one part of the time because they was cutting, so I wasn't trying to lose my career over that.”

Cut blocks are when an offensive player tries to take down a defender by blocking below the waist, usually aiming below the knees. They’re illegal in certain situations, such as when a defender is engaged with another offensive player or if it’s five yards form the line of scrimmage or comes from the side or back.

“When you play football, you try to play the game of football the right way and I don’t think those guys were playing the right way,” defensive end Marlon Davidson said. “I think they just got caught up in, you know, ‘We’re this, we’re that, ya’ll Auburn.’ Stuff like that, I really don’t care. We won the game. Congratulations to them for being in the Music City Bowl but we had to take a W.”

Auburn was penalized just three times in the blowout win over the Boilermakers in the Music City Bowl, two for pass interference and one offsides. Purdue’s 14 points are the least Auburn’s defense has allowed since holding Arkansas to three back in September.

The Tigers had two interceptions, one by Javaris Davis and another by Bryant, which he returned 20 yards for a touchdown. AU added three sacks from Brown, Davis and Deshaun Davis, who led the team with nine tackles in his final college game.

“We knew we had to limit big plays, get pressure on the quarterback,” Davis said. “We knew they were going to try to get the ball to 4 (Rondale Moore), try to take a couple shots. We knew if we could get pressure, we could control everything we wanted to control. I tip my head to the defensive line. Coach threw in some great plays.

“This probably has been the best two weeks of practice I've had since I've been at Auburn. I'm not surprised about this performance at all.”

Auburn held Moore, the freshman All-American wideout, to 11 receptions for 94 yards. And with the offense scoring 63 points, the most ever allowed by Purdue, it was a day of celebration for Deshaun Davis and all of Auburn’s seniors.

“I just wanted to make sure that Dontavius, Andrew, Deshaun, Darrell and Atk, they went out on a bang with stupid D,” Davidson said. “We had our game down today. We got back to Auburn fast, physical football today. We didn’t show that the other games but I feel like this game we got our identity back and we played hard.”