Courtesy: auburntigers.cstv.com

Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn football team practiced for 90 minutes Tuesday afternoon in its last workout before traveling to Starkville for its Southeastern Conference opener against Mississippi State on Thursday night.

Auburn (1-0) hit all phases of the game plan Tuesday as the Tigers prepare for a Mississippi State (1-0) team that rolled up 569 yards of total offense and intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown in last week’s season opening victory over Memphis.

“You can just see an unbelievable amount of improvement in their (Mississippi State) team,“ Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said in his Monday press conference. “I have a very high level of respect for what Coach (Dan) Mullen is doing over there. They played a great football game Saturday. We’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s tough to play in Starkville. It’s going to be a very important game for both sides so it’s going to be a hard-fought battle. It’s going to be critical that we go over there and play to the best of our ability to give us a chance to win.“

In defeating Memphis 49-7, the Bulldogs posted the fifth-best mark in total offense (569) in school history and the most points in a season opening game since 1974. Mississippi State’s two quarterbacks combined to hit 20-of-25 pass attempts for 372 yards, which tied for the eighth-highest single-game total in school history.

“You can tell certainly they have put a great deal of emphasis on being able to throw the ball and balance their attack out,“ Chizik noted. “Without any question, they’re doing that better. They’ve got some really good receivers. They’re playing two quarterbacks now. Not that one of them is better at one thing necessarily than the other. In the game that I saw, they are both very competent at running the ball and throwing it. It looks like they have definitely made a concerted effort to be able to throw the ball down the field, and they did a great job of that on Saturday.“

The Tigers go into Starkville with a 6-2 record in Thursday night games. Auburn last played a Thursday night SEC game in 2002, defeating Mississippi State 42-14.

Auburn defeated Arkansas State 52-26 in last weekend’s season opener. The Tigers played 12 true freshmen and had 17 players overall make their Auburn debut. Auburn piled up 608 yards total offense against Arkansas State.

Thursday’s game at Mississippi State will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN.

A limited number of season, mini-season and single-game tickets are still available for Auburn home games this season. For more information, please visit http://www.auburntigers.com or call 1-800-AUB-1957.