Auburn stops No. 16 Mississippi State

AUBURN, Ala. -- Ryan Smith went low and came up big for Auburn. The backup safety stopped Chris Relf at the goal line with a leg tackle on the final play to preserve the Tigers' 41-34 win over No. 16 Mississippi State yesterday.

Relf kept the ball on an option and headed for the end zone before Smith brought the 240-pound quarterback down for the Tigers (2-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference), who had gone from defending national champions to unranked underdog after needing a furious rally to beat Utah State last week.

It was Smith's first tackle of the season and only the fourth of his career. "I was just trying to go across and make the play," he said. "You don't really have time to think -- you just make the play. I knew he was going to keep the ball. He had been keeping it all day."

The Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1) nearly pulled off a huge comeback. Coach Dan Mullen said he would have gone for two points and the win if Relf had punched it across. All 10 seconds remaining ticked off when Relf came up short.

Daren Bates, Jake Holland and Neiko Thorpe led a swarm of defenders to stop Vick Ballard for a short loss on the previous play after Auburn called timeout to regroup.

Mike Dyer rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers, who extended major-college football's longest win streak to 17 games.

The Auburn defense was on the field for 97 plays and gave up 531 yards and 31 first downs.

Ballard ran for a 3-yard touchdown with 4:51 left to keep Mississippi State alive. Relf passed for 195 yards and a touchdown and ran 27 times for 106 yards. Ballard ran 21 times for 106 yards to help Mississippi State play keep-away.

Barrett Trotter was 16-for-23 passing for 146 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers. Emory Blake accounted for most of the passing yards with 108 yards on seven catches, including a 46-yard touchdown.

-- AP