STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- Daniel Cobb gave a little chuckle when told of his 1-for-9 first quarter.

"Is that what I was? Oh man. That's pretty bad," he said.

Cobb could laugh off the slow start because he threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter as Auburn beat Mississippi State 42-14 on Thursday night.

Carnell Williams rushed for two TDs in the fourth quarter for the Tigers (3-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference), who scored the final 21 points to win their third straight.

Cobb, a senior who has had an up-and-down career, also caught an early break when an interception returned for a touchdown by Mississippi State was nullified when the play was blown dead because of an Auburn penalty.

"We weren't going to pull him," said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who spent last season shuffling between Cobb and Jason Campbell. Cobb had to beat out Campbell in the preseason for the starting job.

Cobb settled down and finished 10-of-21 for a season-high 183 yards with no interceptions.

Kevin Fant passed well when he had time to throw for Mississippi State (1-2, 0-1). He was 19-of-31 for 215 yards with an interception and two fumbles while facing steady pressure from the Tigers.

"Turnovers kill you, especially when you play a good team like Auburn," said Fant, who was sacked five times.

The Bulldogs turned the ball over six times.

"I thought we had to have five turnovers to win -- we got six," said Tuberville, the former Mississippi coach who is 3-2 in Starkville.

Fant's second fumble was caused and recovered by Reggie Torbor and gave Auburn the ball at the Bulldogs' 17 with 10:30 left in the fourth quarter. About a minute later Williams went off tackle to the left for a 5-yard touchdown that made it 35-14.

Williams, who came in averaging 7.4 yards per carry, never broke a big run, but showed off his toughness with 106 yards on 28 carries.

"The whole deal was running the ball. It makes throwing a lot easier," Tuberville said.

Cobb also showed some grit in the third quarter.

He was scrambling away from a rush when he was cut down by Jason Clark and finished off by 299-pound Ronald Fields, who landed on top of him. Cobb left the game for one play with a bruised left shoulder but returned the Tigers' next series.

Dontae Walker had two 1-yard touchdown runs to cap long drives by Mississippi State. The first started the scoring late in the first quarter. The other completed a 16-play, 65-yard march on the first possession of the second half to cut Auburn's lead to 21-14.

The Tigers tied it at 7 in the second quarter when 6-foot-5 Anthony Mix reached over 5-10 Richard Ball to grab Cobb's pass in the end zone for a 16-yard score

Ball was also involved in the Tigers' second score as the Bulldogs had a disastrous final five minutes of the half.

Damon Duval's punt took a backward bounce deep in Mississippi State territory and glanced off Ball's heel as he was facing the other direction. Auburn picked up the muff at the 13.

Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill said punt returner Korey Banks didn't yell for Ball to run away from the bouncing ball and that left Ball vulnerable.

"We should not be making some of these mistake, but they are correctable," Sherrill said.

Three plays and an Auburn penalty later, Cobb hit Marcel Willis on a slant and the receiver carried a tackler into the end zone for a 17-yard score. That gave the Tigers a 14-7 lead with 4:07 left in the second quarter.

Cobb's third TD pass came right before halftime.

The Tigers took over at the Bulldogs' 47 with 28 seconds left. On their second play, Cobb found Ben Obomanu streaking down the right sideline against single coverage for a 45-yard touchdown and 21-7 lead.

Cobb gave all the credit to his receivers.

"That's just talent we have and hopefully people will start respecting it," he said. "And if they don't then we've got to go out and do it again."