Simulating Auburn's 2020 season: Southern Miss

Day 92 without sports.

I rummaged up a copy of NCAA Football 14 for the Xbox 360, downloaded 2020 rosters for every team, set up the schedule, and simulated Auburn's entire 2020 football season — because, at this point, why not?

Video-game depictions of sporting events have become common during the pandemic, and fans seem to eat it up. Look at Barstool Sports' NCAA 14 series, for example, which netted more than 125,000 viewers during a national championship earlier this month.

But our usage of the game will differ slightly. Here are the ground rules, for those who missed the first installment. In short, I don't touch the controller; I let the CPU simulate the game how it will.

Onto the games.

• Auburn begins the game in Golden Eagles territory after Shaun Shivers takes the opening kickoff 58 yards.

• After two first downs, the Tigers settle for a field goal. 3-0 Auburn.

• The next drive is more fruitful, as Auburn easily pushes down the field, ending with a Seth Williams receiving touchdown. 10-0 Auburn.

• Southern Miss senior quarterback Jack Abraham is able to pick his spots going down the field, but not before Roger McCreary snags his first interception of the season in the end zone to keep them off the board.

• After an Auburn punt, Christian Tutt gets into the fun with an interception of his own.

• Auburn's offense is performing decently but not great. A third consecutive drive into USM territory ends with a field goal this time. 13-0 Auburn.

• McCreary hauls in his second pick of the day and the third for Auburn's defense as Derick Hall, Tyrone Truesdell and company are making life hard in the pocket for Abraham.

• The Tigers add another field goal off the turnover. Bo Nix is completing 50 percent of his passes on the afternoon. 16-0 Auburn.

• The Tigers ride Tank Bigsby on their second touchdown drive of the day. He carries a few times for 31 yards before Nix polishes off the possession with a rushing TD. 23-0 Auburn.

• Looking to create an even bigger lead before the half, Nix forces a throw to his near side and throws a pick-six. Southern Miss fails on a 2-point conversion try. 23-6 Auburn.

• Nix follows up with a touchdown strike to a wide-open Anthony Schwartz, 33 seconds before halftime. 30-6 Auburn.

• Abraham is having success with receiver Tim Jones. A deep connection between the two out of halftime sets USM up with a field goal from 50-plus yards. 30-9 Auburn.

• If I've learned anything from playing this game over the years, it's that computers usually don't miss field goals, even if the kicker's rating isn't incredible and it's a 53-yard try. That will definitely get annoying down the stretch of the season when it starts to take away from some realism in that regard.

• A balanced attack carries Auburn on a 15-play drive, but it again settles for just 3 in the red zone. 33-9 Auburn.

• Abraham again finds success through the air, and this time the drive ends with a touchdown. The QB scrambles inside the 10 and scores, making this a little more interesting in the second half. The 2-point conversion is successful. 33-17 Auburn.

• Nix is intercepted again, this time looking for John Samuel Shenker over the middle. That's seven interceptions for the virtual Auburn quarterback through four games. He had just six in 2019.

• Auburn's defense is able to hold strong for only a field goal after USM started at the Tigers' 33-yard line. 33-20 Auburn.

• Anders Carlson adds his fourth field goal of the game at the end of a time-consuming drive. 36-20 Auburn.

• After one last defensive stand for good measure, Auburn rides out Bigsby, who gets into the end zone from 8 yards out for his first career touchdown. 43-20 Auburn.

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TOTAL YARDS

Auburn: 509

Southern Miss: 324

PASSING YARDS

Auburn: 248

Southern Miss: 306

RUSHING YARDS

Auburn: 261

Southern Miss: 18

THIRD DOWNS

Auburn: 6-of-16

Southern Miss: 3-of-15

TURNOVERS

Auburn: 2

Southern Miss: 3

PASSING

B. Nix (AU): 21-for-32, 248 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs

J. Abraham (USM): 32-for-55, 306 yards, 3 INTs

RUSHING

T. Bigsby (AU): 20 carries, 117 yards, TD

D. Williams (AU): 17 carries, 78 yards

B. Nix (AU): 12 carries, 46 yards, TD

S. Shivers (AU): 3 carries, 20 yards

K. Perkins (USM): 7 carries, 32 yards

J. Abraham (USM): 10 carries, -14 yards, TD

RECEIVING

E. Stove (AU): 9 receptions, 146 yards

D. Williams (AU): 5 receptions, 33 yards

A. Schwartz (AU): 1 reception, 26 yards

S. Williams (AU): 3 receptions, 20 yards, TD

J. Shenker (AU): 2 receptions, 20 yards

T. Bigsby (AU): 1 reception, 3 yards

T. Jones (USM): 9 receptions, 136 yards

D. Bailey-Brown (USM): 6 receptions, 74 yards

R. Ladner (USM) 3 receptions, 26 yards

K. Perkins (USM): 5 receptions, 22 yards

M. McCoy (USM): 4 receptions, 17 yards

J. Adams (USM): 1 reception, 14 yards

J. Brownlee (USM): 1 reception, 11 yards

G. Gunter (USM): 1 reception, 6 yards

AU DEFENSIVE LEADERS

J. Sherwood (AU): 9 tackles, 3 PBUs, forced fumble

R. McCreary (AU): 3 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 PBUs

D. Newkirk (AU): 4 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 sacks

K. Britt (AU): 5 tackles, 2 TFLs

D. Hall (AU): 4 tackles, sack

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EAST

1. Florida (4-0, 2-0 SEC)

2. Missouri (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

3. South Carolina (3-1, 1-1 SEC)

4. Georgia (3-1, 0-1 SEC)

5. Tennessee (2-2, 0-1 SEC)

6. Vanderbilt (1-3, 0-1 SEC)

7. Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC)

WEST

1. Alabama (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

2. Auburn (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

3. Mississippi State (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

4. Texas A&M (4-0, 1-0 SEC)

5. LSU (3-1, 1-0 SEC)

6. Ole Miss (1-3, 0-2 SEC)

7. Arkansas (1-3, 0-2 SEC)