Following a thrilling 17-16 victory in their season opener in Atlanta, the Auburn Tigers have officially closed the books on their game against Baylor and are moving forward in the season.
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The Tigers now turn their full attention to their home opener on Saturday, when they will welcome the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to Jordan-Hare Stadium, playing the Sun Belt foe for the first time since 2018.
The Golden Eagles also held their season opener last weekend, cruising to a win at home against Alcorn State 49-3 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
It was the Braves who struck first a ways into the first quarter of the afternoon, as Kenyon Bowyer knocked in a 22-yard field goal to put Alcorn State up 3-0.
However, Southern Miss controlled the game from that point forward.
Following the field goal, the Golden Eagles went on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown run by Steven Robinson, his first of three on the day.
Then, early in the second, Southern Miss marched 80 yards down the field, capping things with a 38-yard pass from Ethan Hampton to Mario Sanders.
That could have been the longest drive of the game, but the Golden Eagles one-upped it soon after with a 97-yard drive that Jamarice Wilder ended with a 2-yard run to make 21-3 with just eight seconds left in the first half.
Southern Miss continued to strike early in the third quarter and added another touchdown from Robinson, with Wilder also picking up another score a couple minutes after from 29 yards out.
Robinson notched his final touchdown of the day with two minutes left in the third, rumbling in from the 2-yard line to extend things from 42-3.
The Golden Eagles put up one more touchdown in their opener, as Robert Henderson closed the door on a drive of nine plays that spanned 76 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run, making it the sixth of the day for the ground game as a whole.
That brought the score to its final resting place of 49-3, sending Southern Miss and Head Coach Blake Anderson off the field happy.
Hampton finished the day 13-for-23 through the air with 180 yards, one touchdown and one interception, earning a quarterback rating of 43.8 for the day.
The rushing game though was the star of the show on the offensive side of the football. The ground attack amounted 317 yards on 57 carries, relying on it heavily throughout the contest. Robinson was the leader in the backfield, getting 23 carries for 123 yards and three touchdowns, while Wilder put up 90 yards on 14 rushes.
The receivers were led by the efforts of Sanders, who caught the only passing touchdown of the day, but earned six catches for 97 yards, being only one of two on the team who caught more than two passes on the day.
Three guys controlled things on the defensive side of the football in terms of tackles. Mathis Haygood churned out eight tackles with half a sack on the day, while Melvin Springs and Laquan Robinson each had seven.
The story of the defense though was the turnovers, as it caused five turnovers from Alcorn State. Cannon McClain recovered the only fumble off of the Braves, while Jonah Martinez picked a pass off and Kobi Albert got a hat trick in the interception department.
The total of 543 yards for the day placed the Golden Eagles third in the Sun Belt in average yards behind Appalachian State and Georgia State, while their rushing performance took tops in the conference, being the only school to rush for more than 300 yards.
Southern Miss will now travel to the Plains for a night showdown with 1-0 Auburn. Kick-off is set for 6:45 CST in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
