STARKVILLE | The word of the night was fight.

No, this would not be a replay of every game we had seen in the previous year and a half. No, these Tigers weren’t going to let Carnell Williams down by laying an egg in his first game as a head coach. This was a different team, and the emotion showed from the moment they got off the bus and walked the field at Davis Wade Stadium during pregame.

Despite the looming rain showers and overcast sky, the east sideline looked brighter than ever. Down 24-6 and with everything going against them, Auburn, after a week that seemed to last five and so many transitions that it would have been easy to fold the tent on the season, fought back.

It was refreshing. There was an energy that had been lacking, a resolve that went missing under the last coach. It was a belief in each other.

That is what Cadillac said he had been preaching over the past six tiresome days since being named the interim head guy for a program quickly needing to press the refresh button. Belief and serve.

As the coach and a few players said afterward, they definitely believed in and served each other to their fullest. Sure, tears were shed by some in the locker room, but, as Derick Hall explained, there was absolutely nothing the Tigers should hang their heads about. It was not the same look of dejection that the defensive star had on his face so many times earlier this season. There was hope that this was the turning point for Auburn, even if he likely has only three games left in its uniform.

After each turnover, the sidelines erupted. At the end of the third quarter, it was the Auburn bench going crazy, not Mississippi State in its own house.

The comeback was full of some of the best football the Tigers have played in 2022. Robby Ashford, struggling to get anything going through the air, relied on his legs and continued to scorch the Bulldogs’ defense, rushing for two touchdowns in a matter of six minutes in the third quarter.

Tank Bigsby, held in check for much of the game, showed his will, outracing seemingly all of MSU on a 41-yard run. Jarquez Hunter, a native of Mississippi intent on not starting his career 0-2 against his home-state team, kept his legs churning, converting a big third down and giving Auburn a lead with 1:05 to play.

It wasn’t enough. We know that. It will go down as a loss in the scorebook, but, as Williams said after the game, it was anything but a loss for this team. They fought. They battled. They played for the men beside them until the bitter end.

As the Tigers left the field, the Auburn fans in the southeast end zone stood and applauded. They saw what everyone saw: a different team, a new attitude. There was pride in wearing the Auburn uniform.

Fight. It’s certainly nice to have that word back in the Auburn football vocabulary.