Davis Leads the Way for No. 12 Auburn

Auburn Coach Terry Bowden got what he wanted Saturday from junior tailback Stephen Davis, and it wasn’t particularly the 158 yards rushing.

Davis emerged from the shadow of departed James Bostic with 33 carries and a touchdown as 12th-ranked Auburn held off Mississippi, 22-17, in a Southeastern Conference game, extending the longest winning streak in Division I-A to 12 games.

“You didn’t see the big plays, but I wanted to see him carry 30 times on a hot day,” said Bowden, still undefeated at Auburn after going 11-0 last season. “It was some tough running. That’s good enough. We’ll see a long run here or there. That was our workhorse.”

The Tigers had to hold on as Mississippi rallied in the second half, penetrating the Auburn 10 twice in the fourth quarter, coming away with a touchdown but having a field-goal attempt blocked.

“That’s going to be a big win for us,” Bowden said. “Our team continued to play hard. What I saw--a team that wanted to win so bad. (Mississippi) got down there twice, we held them to a fourth and 12, they got that one great catch.

“They got down there again, we held them again.”

Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix passed for a touchdown and ran for one in his first start.

With Bostic, Auburn’s leading rusher the past two seasons, now in the NFL, Davis got his first opportunity to showcase the talent that made him the national prep player of the year as a high school senior. He ran for 480 yards last season.

After rushing for 60 yards in the first half, Davis did most of the work on a third-quarter drive that gave Auburn a 22-10 lead. He carried eight times for 58 yards, including a four-yard touchdown run on the 10th play. His longest runs of the game, 16 and 19 yards, came on the drive. Davis was the first Auburn back since 1989 with 30 or more carries in a game.

Mississippi, held to four yards before halftime, opened the second half with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended when quarterback Josh Nelson dumped a screen pass to Mark Smith, who spun out of a tackle at the 10 and scored to complete an 18-yard play.

Nelson completed 24 of 34 passes for 224 yards despite being sacked seven times and under constant pressure.