AUBURN | Trailing 36-28 midway through the fourth quarter and in desperate need of a stop, Auburn’s defense finally came up big in the red zone.

The Tigers sacked quarterback Will Rogers on back-to-back plays to push Mississippi State back from the 16 to the 27-yard line. But as T.D. Moultry celebrated the potential momentum-turning play, an SEC replay official saw it differently.

A few minutes after reviewing the play, Moultry was called for targeting and MSU given a first down on the 11-yard line..

“What I saw on the replay was him going up because the quarterback's in a passing position to try to block the pass,” said Auburn coach Bryan Harsin. “The quarterback freezes. He's coming down, and then he sacks the quarterback in that situation right there. So ... targeting, you've got to define who's defenseless, the crown of the helmet -- there's all these other things that come into play.

“And I didn't see that on that play, but they called it from the booth, because it wasn't called on the field. And the officials that were out there, I think saw the same thing I saw. What they saw in the booth, they felt like it was targeting. That was the explanation to me.”

It was a costly penalty. MSU scored on a 6-yard pass two plays later to take a 43-28 lead and essentially end any chances of an AU rally. The Tigers managed a late touchdown in the 43-34 loss.

Moultry will have to sit out the first half of next Saturday’s game against South Carolina as AU tries to end a two-game losing streak.

“I think that's a tough call when you have a momentum changing play right there,” said Harsin. “One of our better players that's going to be out because the second half. And it wasn't called on the field. And so, it was called down. I just ... I'll have to look at it before I really have a better opinion on it. But it was called, and it changed the field position and gave them a first down, and we were getting some momentum in that moment right there, which was good. But that sort of just took that away.”

Kickoff at Williams-Brice Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.