Written by Matt Courson
NASHVILLE — The Auburn Tigers emerged victorious in the 2018 Franklin American Mortgage Company Music City Bowl. The Tigers defeated the Purdue Boilermakers 63-13 and ended the 2018 season on a high note.
Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said he is happy for the players and the win does not make a statement as to where he might be coaching next year.
“The players approach [into the game], you could just sense it,” said Mazahn. “It was completely different. They were focused in practice and they were really demanding of themselves, so it didn’t surprise me that we played well. I’m proud of these guys. They’ve earned it. They finished the season on a high note where there has been some ups and downs. But this is going to give us great momentum going into next year.”
Purdue coach Jeff Brohm spoke about the first half struggles, which essentially gave the win to Auburn before the first half was even over.
“Well it wasn’t a great day for us today for sure, it was a disappointing loss to a great football team,” Brohm said.
“Big upfront, big in the secondary, we’ve played a lot of big football games and we did not play well, and Auburn did. And you combine those things and we got frustrated as we went on, and we had some bad mistakes that cost us. It was just a bad, really bad first half that we definitely couldn’t overcome.”
The Tigers scored eight touchdowns in their first eight possessions. Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham threw for 373 yards and five touchdowns in his final college football game. Running back JaTarvious Whitlow scored two touchdowns on the ground for the Tigers.
Purdue struggled to move the ball both in the air and on the ground. The Boilermakers passed for just 184 yards and went had 79 yards on the ground.
Auburn’s 56 points in the first half is a record for most points in any half in NCAA Bowl Series history. The Tigers 56 points also shattered a record set in 1995 against Chattanooga for the most points in any half in school history.
The Tigers started 2018 off ranked in the AP Top 25 and quickly dropped out. Although the record of 8-5 will forever be in the record books, the win in Nashville certainly allowed their season to end on a high note.
