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Bodda Getta Daily Brew 10/30: A Well-Oiled Football Machine

Bodda Getta Daily Brew 10/30: A Well-Oiled Football Machine

Today, we note the offensive and defensive precision from Saturday's win.

Bodda Getta Brew Crew
October 30, 2023

Good morning. Saturday’s football game was like watching a dart land squarely in the middle of a bullseye. Payton Thorne threw three first-half touchdown passes, and Auburn held Mississippi State without a touchdown for three-quarters Saturday in the Tigers' 27-13 win at sold-out Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"A great day to win our first SEC game," Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. "It's not easy to win in this league. This was a big one for us."

What else can you find mixed into today’s Brew?

🏈 Jaylin Simpson: “The most electrifying safety in football”
⚽️ Anna Haddock shows she’s got brains and brawn with recent award
🐅 And much, much more!

🐅 INTRODUCING WAREAGLE+

So you call yourself a SuperFan. A new streaming video and content platform for Auburn Athletics that offers fans an insider’s look into the student-athletes and coaches on The Plains—WarEagle+ is officially live!

Think of it as the chance to sit on your couch, turn on your TV, or grab your phone or tablet and open a dedicated app to stream exclusive Auburn videos, shows, and vault and feature content.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Pay Day For Payton. Tigers’ QB Payton Thorne completed 20 of 26 passes for 230 yards Saturday against Mississippi State, connecting with 11 receivers to help the Tigers earn their first SEC victory.

"It's a credit to our guys of being ready, knowing what to do, and making the play when the ball comes to them," said Thorne, who added 38 yards rushing on eight carries.

Auburn drove 75 yards for touchdowns on its first two possessions, with Thorne hitting Shane Hooks for a 27-yard score and Ja’Varrius Johnson on a perfectly thrown 45-yard strike that gave Auburn a 14-3 lead at the 4:12 mark of the first quarter.

Alex McPherson extended Auburn's lead to 17-3 with a 39-yard field goal midway through the second quarter.

Late in the half, Auburn stopped Mississippi State on fourth-and-1 to give the Tigers possession at their 32-yard line with one minute and 14 seconds remaining.

"A critical juncture of the game," Freeze said. "We got the fourth-down stop right before the half, and we took it down and scored. That was one of our better complementary football series of the year. That gave us a lot of momentum."

Moving 68 yards in eight plays in 65 seconds, Thorne lofted a pass to Jeremiah Cobb out of the backfield for a 7-yard touchdown for a 24-3 Auburn lead with nine seconds left in the first half.

"Executing down the field in a two-minute drive and getting in the end zone and getting seven instead of settling for three," Thorne said. "I thought that was a big point in the game. Going into halftime, you feel good about that. Great way to end the half."

Mississippi State (4-4, 1-4) kicked a field goal to conclude the opening drive of the second half, but Auburn answered with its own field goal, a 49-yarder from McPherson, his 14^th consecutive make.

The Bulldogs scored their only touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 14-yard pass from Mike Wright to Zavion Thomas that trimmed Auburn's lead to 27-13.

After the teams traded three-and-outs, Zion Puckett intercepted Wright's pass at Auburn's 5-yard line to preserve the Tigers' two-touchdown lead with 7:43 to play.

The Tigers then stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down to end State's next possession, and Jarquez Hunter’s 50-yard rush helped Auburn run out the clock.

Hunter gained 144 yards on 17 carries, adding 26 yards receiving on two catches.

Thorne completed 15 of 20 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns in the first half while adding 23 yards rushing on three carries.

Auburn's defense stopped State on all six third downs in the first half and held the Bulldogs to 2-for-12 for the game. Eugene Asante led Auburn with nine tackles.

"Hustling to the ball anytime I can," Asante said. "Grateful for the opportunity to be on the field. I never take that for granted."

"If teams don't score on us, teams don't beat us," said Keionte Scott, who made seven solo tackles, a tackle for loss, and broke up a pass. "We've got some cleaning up to do, but I felt like the effort was there, the intention was there, and we played team defense."

Auburn (4-4, 1-4) travels to Nashville next Saturday to play Vanderbilt at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

"You hope that it gives us a little confidence and maybe a little swagger to go play with confidence on the road," Freeze said. "It's not easy at home, and it's certainly not easy on the road. Confidence is a huge factor and key in that."

Some more Brew headlines to make your day ⏬

💪🏼 Go inside the locker room with Coach Freeze after Saturday’s big win.

🏈 Missed Saturday’s game? Here’s the Tigers-Mississippi State game day thread.

🤗 Hugh Freeze and John Cohen, hugging it out, coaches’ style.

🧡 The Auburn family and the Tiger Walk is always an awesome display.

👊🏻 Jordan-Hare is a whole vibe.

🥎 The Tigers honor Auburn Athletic Trainer Lora Fuhrmann and Student Athletic Trainer Noah Tanner for their life-saving efforts at a softball game in May.

🔼 Alabama Left Seeing Red. Another 20-kill performance from Madison Scheer powered Auburn (17-5, 7-4) over in-state rival Alabama (10-12, 0-11) for the sixth victory over the Crimson Tide in a row, 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22).

Tough serving, as always, paved the way for the Tigers in the opening set. Even though Jackie Barrett was the only one to officially record an ace, the rest of the Auburn servers were busy knocking Alabama out of step.

Leading by one early, Akasha Anderson went on a 7-1 run that opened things up for the Orange and Blue, and the Tigers never looked back. With Scheer recording five kills in the opening frame and three big Tiger blocks, the first set equated to Auburn domination.

Too many unforced errors prevented Auburn from point scoring in the second set.

Midway through the third set, it was Anderson again whose tough serving led to a little separation for the Tigers. Once Barrett stepped to the line, though, Auburn led by as many as seven.

In-state rivalries mean a little bit more in Alabama, and the Crimson Tide weren’t ready to call it quits just yet. Alabama would take the lead late, but with Barrett serving, she powered her team to one last run.

Barrett would finish with 44 assists and 11 digs for her 13^th double-double, now the most in a single season for the senior setter.

An insane effort from Paige Thibault on set point moved Auburn on top two sets to one. Fresh off back-to-back performances with 23 digs, Thibault would add another 15 on Sunday.

Barrett and the offense saved its best production for the fourth, hitting .317 in the final stanza. Combined will stellar serving from Barrett, Chelsey Harmon, and Bel Zimmerman, the Tigers made it extremely difficult for the Crimson Tide to feel any sort of comfort.

Bella Bell led the squad with five of her 12 kills in the fourth set alone. The Blythewood, South Carolina product would go on to hit a match-high .435 on the afternoon.

Scheer followed with four of her own kills to reach 21 on the day, marking the third straight match she's reached at least 20.

Even when tensions were high and the score was tight, Zimmerman, Harmon, and Thibault's tough served allowed the Tigers to close out the match for Auburn's sixth straight win over its rival.

"I think it's a really big win,” coach Brent Crouch said. “We made some big plays at the end of the third and fourth sets. In both cases, it could have gone either way. To see us step up on the road at the end of a long trip, I'm really proud of them."

Another road trip is on the docket for the Tigers next weekend when Auburn squares up against Texas A&M on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m. CT. Crouch and Co. will be back in Neville Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 8, for a matchup with Kentucky.

🔼 On A Roll. Auburn soccer's Anna Haddock was named Southeastern Conference Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year as well as Second Team All-SEC, the league office announced Sunday.

Haddock is the fourth Tiger to be named scholar-athlete of the year and the first since Casie Ramsier (2013-16) in 2016. She makes her third career appearance as an All-SEC player after earning a nod on the all-freshman team in 2020 and the first team in 2021.

The Bowling Green, Kentucky native earned her undergraduate degree in business management in three years, graduating in the spring of 2023 with 3.97 cumulative grade point average. She received a minor in human resource management. Haddock is currently working toward her Master of Business Administration.

Off the field, Haddock is the vice president of Auburn's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a recurring member of both the Auburn AD's Honor Roll and the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a member of Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society as well as a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-American.

This season on the pitch, Haddock has started all 18 matches in the midfield and gone the distance in 11 of them. She has totaled 15 points on four goals and seven assists. Haddock currently ranks third in program history with 31 career assists under her belt.

Haddock shares this year's SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award with Bea Franklin of Arkansas.

🔼 Simply Awesome. As Jaylin Simpson, or “Simp” as his teammates call him, finished his interviews this week in the Woltosz Football Performance Center and started to walk out, teammate Eugene Asante called out as if doing a wrestling promo.

"There goes the most electrifying safety in college football!”

“He’s certainly lived up to that brand of football every Saturday," Asante said. "Simp is somebody that you know is a security blanket on the back end. He has range to go from the middle of the field to one side of the field. He’s got that speed, that range, that ability to make big plays on any given down.

"Simp is somebody we appreciate, and we’re grateful to have on this defense. He’s going to be somebody where that [game] translates to the National Football League.”

Simpson is enjoying his best season yet at Auburn. Through the first seven games, he has four interceptions, and his pass break-up against LSU led to another interception for D.J. James. He’s among the national FBS leaders in interceptions per game (0.60) this season and was recognized by multiple national outlets last week.

ESPN, the Associated Press, CBS Sports, Pro Football Focus, Fox Sports, USA Today, Sporting News, The Athletic, 247 Sports, and the Reese’s Senior Bowl all had Simpson as one of their midseason All-Americans.

Simpson usually doesn’t look at that kind of thing, especially during the season, but Auburn secondary coach Zac Etheridge showed him some of the various All-American accolades.

“I looked at it, and it had all the guys. I usually don’t try to pay attention to it. I try to stay focused,” Simpson said. “But then I went back and looked at it again because I thought it was only SEC, and I was like, ‘Hold up, that’s a team way out on the West Coast.’ So, then I’m like, ‘Oh, this is everybody in the country? That’s a big deal.’

“I’m proud of myself. This is what I always wanted to do since I’ve been here.”

Read the rest of the article for the breakdown of his most iconic plays, more Simp takes from his teammates, and what he’ll have to do to break the single-season record for interceptions at Auburn.

🤔 TIGER TRIVIA

Hit ‘Em in the Numbers. With the football team having gained some momentum this weekend, they now face the Vanderbilt Commodores this coming Saturday. Today’s trivia question takes a look at the history between the two teams.

Interestingly enough, the Tigers have the exact same number of wins as losses in their matchups against the Commodores.

Today’s question: Do you know what that number is?

Think you know the answer? Scroll to the bottom to find out!

🎁 THE ULTIMATE GIVEAWAY

Calling all Auburn fans! The Diamonds Direct Ultimate Fan Giveaway starts now and runs through Nov. 17. Enter for your chance to win two tickets to the Auburn vs. Alabama game, pre-game hospitality passes, sideline passes, fan gear, and a $250 Diamonds Direct gift certificate.

📬 FORWARDED BY A FRIEND

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📅 THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday 10/30

🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITF 15K

🏌🏼‍♂️ Men’s Golf @ Cypress Point Classic

🏀 Women’s Basketball vs. West Georgia @ 7:00 p.m. CT | Live Stats

Tuesday 10/31

🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITF 15K

🏌🏼‍♂️ Men’s Golf @ Cypress Point Classic

Wednesday 11/1

🎾 Women’s Tennis @ ITF 15K