The wait was worth it for Auburn fans Saturday night. Auburn went 21 days without playing a football game but returned to Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday night and picked up its fifth win of the season against Tennessee.
Auburn looked like a team coming off of a long break to start the game with Bo Nix throwing his first career interception inside Jordan-Hare and falling behind 10-0 early in the second quarter.
But the Tigers came roaring back, scoring the next 27 points on the way to a 30-17 victory.
While Auburn got the all-import win to improve to 5-2 on the season, it was far from perfect. In four trips to the redzone they scored one touchdown, kicked two field goals and threw an interception. Also, the Tigers saw four starters get shaken up.
Star running back Tank Bigsby, left tackle Alec Jackson, right tackle Brodarious Hamm and receiver Seth Williams were all clearly shaken up during the game. Of the four, Jackson was the only to visit the locker room.
Bigsby returned to the game after he appeared to sustain a hip injury in the first quarter, but he exited after just one carry. Jackson returned late in the fourth quarter.
Here were the keys to Auburn’s win in Gus Malzahn’s 100th game as Auburn’s head coach.