Ole Miss does what Ole Miss does: it turns games into track meets.
That’s been the Rebels’ identity for most of the last decade, and Saturday fit the script. The only difference was Auburn never got into the race. On Halloween, the Tigers were blown out while Ole Miss piled up 45 points, marking the fourth time the Rebels have scored 40 or more this season.
Auburn, meanwhile, managed just 15 points against an Ole Miss defense that had been giving up an average of 25 points per game. That was the jarring part of this one. Ole Miss came in ranked 107th nationally in total defense, 94th against the run and 101st against the pass, so Auburn had reason to expect some room to operate.
Instead, the Tigers looked stuck in neutral.
The defensive issues are obvious and ugly, and they have been all season. DJ Durkin is in his third year, not his first, so there’s no excuse left to hide behind. The offensive line has been just as damaging, and that has made life harder on the play-calling side too.
Still, even with those problems, Auburn should have been able to string together some positive yardage on first down and keep itself out of obvious passing situations. That never really happened. Head coach Alex Golesh and offensive coordinator Joel Gordon can’t fix the line in midseason, but the offense needed something cleaner than what it showed.
Auburn did lean early on a heavy dose of screens, apparently trying to work around the line’s struggles. It didn’t pay off.
Here are the distances Auburn faced on each second down on each series during the game:
In Other News...
Auburn's Offense Just Took Another Hit Before Ole Miss Matchup
Auburns receiver room got a little thinner heading into a tricky SEC road test, with Jeremiah Koger ruled out for the matchup against Ole Miss. He now joins Tai Buster and Hunter Herring on the injury report, leaving the Tigers to piece together their offense with another available option off the board as they prepare for one of the leagues more demanding environments.
Ole Miss is dealing with its own roster issues, too, and the availability report has already trimmed the Rebels down by 10 players, including running back Kewan Lacy. Even with both teams shorthanded, the absences matter on a weekend when depth and flexibility can swing the tenor of a conference game, and Auburn will have to find answers without one more name it was hoping to have. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Defense And QB Situation Suddenly Look Far More Fragile
Ole Miss walked out of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with a 45-15 win over Auburn, and the Rebels did it with a quarterback who kept the Tigers off balance in more ways than one. Trinidad Chambliss made his mark through both the air and on the ground, while Ole Miss coach Pete Golding had plenty of praise afterward for Chambliss and offensive coordinator John David Baker, whose plan helped keep Auburn chasing the game from early on.
For Auburn, the bigger concern was how little rhythm the offense found while Byrum Brown was under steady pressure. The Tigers never got much going on the ground, and the combination of a shaky quarterback situation and a defense that bent far too often made the loss feel bigger than the score alone. It left Auburn with more questions than answers at a point in the season when stability is supposed to matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn's Second-Half Collapse Just Raised Bigger Questions About This Offense
Auburns trip to Oxford ended with a lopsided 45-15 loss to No. 12 Ole Miss, a result that did more than just deepen the frustration from one rough afternoon. It also marked the Tigers first two-game losing streak under coach Alex Golesh, with the offense again unable to keep pace after showing flashes early enough to keep the game within reach.
Byrum Brown finished with 195 passing yards, but Auburn never found enough consistency to put real pressure on Ole Miss, where Trinidad Chambliss controlled the game with 263 passing yards and three total touchdowns. The bigger concern now is how quickly Auburn can reset before Arkansas comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium on November 7, because the margin for error on that side of the ball has started to shrink. [Read more 🡒]