Simulating Auburn's 2020 season: Miss State

Day 98 without Auburn 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.

• I'm not exactly sure how good Miss State's 2020 run defense is supposed to be in real life, but the Tigers gashed them on the ground on their opening drive. D.J. Williams carries six times for 61 yards as Auburn works inside the 10.

• But Bo Nix is sacked on third down, and Auburn settles for a triple on the opening possession. 3-0 Auburn.

• K.J. Costello looks plenty comfortable running Mike Leach's air raid offense. The Stanford transfer quarterback goes 6-of-6 passing for 73 yards on Miss State's opening drive.

• He scores on a QB keeper inside the 5-yard line. 7-3 Miss State.

• Auburn goes three-and-out, and the Bulldogs again get cooking through the air. Costello starts the game 14-of-18 for 150 yards, but Auburn gets a stop in the red zone to force a field goal. Good open-field tackling from the secondary played a big role. 10-3 Miss State.

• Anders Carlson hits a 56-yard field goal after a decent possession by the Tigers. 10-6 Miss State.

• Jamien Sherwood intercepts Costello at Auburn's 47-yard line.

• Two plays later, Nix is picked off looking deep at Miss State's 22.

• Costello starts to orchestrate another good drive, but Sherwood is able to snatch his second pick, stopping the Bulldogs at the goal line.

• Nix runs the ball well on the following drive and takes Auburn to the opposing 25, but he's again sacked on third down. Carlson hits another field goal. 10-9 Miss State.

• Costello finds no problems carving up Auburn's secondary on a long drive. He reaches 40 pass attempts in the first half and again keeps for a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:25 until the half. 17-9 Miss State.

• Auburn goes three-and-out, and Miss State has the ball back, with timeouts, a minute until halftime, and the Bulldogs get the ball after halftime.

• Auburn stops the bleeding some by forcing a field goal. 20-9 Miss State.

• Costello's first-half line: 34-for-42 passing with 295 yards and two interceptions, with two rushing scores.

• Costello continues to thrive at the controls of Leach's offense, hitting 300 yards passing on the first play of the second half. Miss State hasn't yet had a drive that fails to cross midfield, and Auburn's pass rush can do little to stop the QB because he gets the ball out so quickly.

• Miss State's run game starts to find some success, keeping Auburn on its toes. Owen Pappoe has 13 tackles a minute into the third quarter.

• Bulldogs running back Jo’Quavious Marks caps another long touchdown drive by the home team with a score on third-and-goal. 27-9 Miss State.

• Nix appears to complete a long pass to Anthony Schwartz to convert a third down, but the junior wideout is ruled out of bounds. Miss State gets the ball back again.

• Auburn finally gets off the field before Costello reaches the 50, as Tyrone Truesdell sniffs out a screen pass on third down.

• Nix takes a zone read 22 yards into Miss State territory. Shaun Shivers has a few good runs in the red zone, and Nix follows with a keeper from 4 yards out for a touchdown. 27-16 Miss State.

• Sherwood pops Costello on a scramble and forces a fumble, which Truesdell recovers on Miss State's side of the field.

• The next play, Shivers scampers for 39 yards for a touchdown. 27-23 Miss State.

• Costello heats back up through the air. On his 62nd pass of the afternoon, he finds freshman running back Dillon Johnson for a 32-yard touchdown on a screen pass. 34-23 Miss State.

• Shivers continues to run well and pace Auburn's offense. The Tigers go for it on fourth-and-1 around midfield, and Mark-Antony Richards picks up 10 yards.

• Richards is playing well on the ground and with a 9-yard reception on this crucial drive. Austin Troxell is called for a false start on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, but Auburn still punches it in with a scrambling touchdown from Nix.

• Shivers is stuffed on the 2-point conversion attempt. 34-29 Miss State.

• With Auburn needing a stop to stay alive, Johnson looks as if his momentum is going to give the Bulldogs a first down on third-and-1 on an outside run. But Sherwood comes flying in and smacks him backwards, stuffing the play for no gain and forcing Auburn's first three-and-out of the afternoon with 59 seconds left.

• Auburn begins at its own 32 following the punt. Following two incompletions, Nix is picked off by Marcus Murphy as the QB looked to the far sideline while on the run.

• Miss State still needs one first down to ice the game since Auburn has all three timeouts, and they get it on the ground on third-and-3. Ballgame.

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TOTAL YARDS

Auburn: 466

Miss State: 523

PASSING YARDS

Auburn: 188

Miss State: 450

RUSHING YARDS

Auburn: 278

Miss State: 73

THIRD DOWNS

Auburn: 5-of-14

Miss State: 10-of-14

TURNOVERS

Auburn: 2

Miss State 3

PASSING

B. Nix (AU): 18-for-24, 188 yards, 2 INTs

K. Costello (MSU): 53-for-65, 450 yards, TD, 2 INTs

RUSHING

S. Shivers (AU): 10 carries, 91 yards, TD

B. Nix (AU): 15 carries, 79 yards, 2 TDs

D. Williams (AU): 9 carries, 77 yards

T. Bigsby (AU): 6 carries, 23 yards

M. Richards (AU): 3 carries, 11 yards

A. Schwartz (AU): 1 carry, -3 yards

K. Costello (MSU): 7 carries, 36 yards, 2 TDs, lost fumble

K. Hill (MSU): 4 carries, 15 yards

D. Johnson (MSU): 3 carries, 12 yards

L. Weatherspoon (MSU): 2 carries, 8 yards

J. Marks (MSU): 3 carries, 2 yards, TD

K. Walker (MSU) 1 carry, 0 yards

RECEIVING

A. Schwartz (AU): 3 catches, 79 yards

E. Stove (AU): 4 catches, 42 yards

J. Shenker (AU): 2 catches, 19 yards

S. Williams (AU): 2 catches, 18 yards

D. Williams (AU): 4 catches, 13 yards

M. Richards (AU): 1 catch, 9 yards

T. Bigsby (AU): 1 catch, 4 yards

T. Fromm (AU): 1 catch, 4 yards

O. Mitchell (MSU): 8 catches, 88 yards

C. Ducking (MSU): 8 catches, 72 yards

D. Johnson (MSU): 5 catches, 64 yards, TD

A. Williams (MSU): 7 catches, 61 yards

J. Payton (MSU): 7 catches, 45 yards

K. Walker (MSU): 4 catches, 38 yards

G. Spivey (MSU): 3 catches, 27 yards

D. Jones (MSU): 4 catches, 20 yards

L. Weatherspoon (MSU): 2 catches, 14 yards

J. Marks (MSU): 3 catches, 12 yards

AUBURN DEFENSIVE LEADERS

O. Pappoe (AU): 14 tackles, TFL

J. Sherwood (AU): 7 tackles, TFL, 2 INTs, forced fumble, PBU

T. Truesdell (AU): 5 tackles, TFL, fumble recovery

K. Britt (AU): 11 tackles, TFL

R. McCreary (AU): 7 tackles, PBU

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EAST

1. Florida (7-1, 5-1 SEC) loses to Georgia

2. Georgia (6-2, 3-2 SEC) def. Florida

3. Tennessee (5-3, 3-2 SEC) def. Arkansas

4. Missouri (5-3, 2-2 SEC) BYE WEEK

5. Kentucky (4-4, 1-4 SEC) BYE WEEK

6. Vanderbilt (2-6, 1-4 SEC) def. South Carolina

7. South Carolina (3-5, 1-5 SEC) loses to Vanderbilt

WEST

1. Alabama (8-0, 5-0 SEC) BYE WEEK

2. Auburn (7-1, 4-1 SEC) loses to Miss State

3. LSU (6-2, 3-1 SEC) BYE WEEK

4. Mississippi State (6-2, 3-2 SEC) def. Auburn

5. Texas A&M (5-2, 2-2 SEC) BYE WEEK

6. Ole Miss (3-5, 1-4 SEC) BYE WEEK

7. Arkansas (2-6, 0-5 SEC) loses to Tennessee

Week 1 vs. Alcorn State

Week 2 vs. North Carolina

Week 3 at Ole Miss

Week 4 vs. Southern Miss

Week 5 vs. Kentucky

Week 6 at Georgia

Week 7 vs. Texas A&M