Red zone woes

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AUBURN, Ala. | For Auburn, six points from four trips inside the 10-yard line was the difference in a 17-9 loss to Mississippi State Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

An interception at the end of the opening drive of the game, a bad snap followed by a missed 26-yard field goal -- that was Auburn's two drives inside the 10 in the first half. In the second half, Auburn managed two short field goals.

"One time we were down to the half-yard line and we snapped it and it went over the quarterback's head," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "We had a very good first drive, and then he got down to third and three and threw the interception. That is the biggest factor in the game."

The loss drops Auburn to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the SEC. The Tigers still have games against four ranked teams plus trips to Kentucky and Arkansas.

"There are a lot of things we are going to build on, that's what I told our team," Malzahn said. "They fought their guts out and they played extremely hard. We have a lot of things that we can build upon. We will get better."

DEFENSE STEPS UP: Just a week after getting mauled by LSU for 45 points and 411 rushing yards, Auburn's defense had a much better performance against MSU.

Auburn held MSU to 326 total yards, only 56 on the ground.

"We got challenged a lot this week," senior defensive lineman DaVonte Lambert said. "We picked it up. I think we did a better job this week."

MSU gained most of his yards on the arm of Heisman Trophy candidate Dak Prescott, who completed 29-of-41 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns. He had just 14 yards rushing.

Auburn held MSU to three points and 126 total yards in the second half.

"Our defense fought," Malzahn said. "They did a good job against a very good quarterback, one of the better players in the entire country with a good offense."

BIG BARBER STILL ROLLING: Auburn found its running game Saturday, topping 200 yards for the first time this season. The carries were distributed to six players who combined for 201 yards.

"I feel like as an offense, we can build off that," junior offensive tackle Shon Coleman said. "Running the ball, that's our strength."

Peyton Barber led the way with 137 yards on 27 carries, both career highs. After the game, his focus was more on the team.

"I feel like next week we're going to bounce back," Barber said. "That team that we played was a great team. At the same time, I do feel like we were the better team. We just beat ourselves."

Quarterback Sean White was Auburn's second-leading rusher with 29 yards on 11 carries. He had the longest run of the game with a 31-yard scramble in the third quarter. Kerryon Johnson added 28 yards on five carries and three catches for 32 yards.

"I thought we ran the ball pretty efficiently," Malzahn said. "We are a run and play action team. One of the positives is that we got back to running the football."

QUICK HITTERS:

In his first college game and first start, White completed 20-of-28 passes for 188 yards with an interception. "We thought he did a very good job for his very first time. He competed and fought," Malzahn said.

After being sacked once in the first half, White was sacked three times in the fourth quarter. "When we had to throw it, we didn't protect him great, but he competed and did some good things," Malzahn said.

Malzahn did not update injures to linebacker Tre Williams (left knee), running back Roc Thomas (left leg) or wide receiver Ricardo Louis (unknown) after the game.

Four players started for the first time on defense: Williams, Buck linebacker Raashed Kennion, cornerback Carlton Davis and nickel corner Javarius Davis. Davis finished with six tackles and a forced fumble.

Senior linebackers Cassanova McKinzy and Kris Frost, and junior safety Rudy Ford didn't start but did play.

Blake Countess, who moved from cornerback to safety, led Auburn with nine tackles and a tackle-for-loss.

Daniel Carlson missed a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter but came back to make field goals of 30, 25 and 51 yards. "I just left my hips open or something. I didn't want to think about it too much after, just wanted to focus on the next kick," Carlson said. "Luckily, I was able to respond but that hurt me personally and hurt the team. Hopefully that won't happen again."