Bryan Harsin addresses Lane Kiffin's decision-making on fourth down

No. 10 Ole Miss did everything in its power to avoid an upset against Bryan Harsin and No. 18 Auburn; for Lane Kiffin, that included fourth-down conversion attempts, a risky play-calling strategy that has almost become the norm for Kiffin.

Ole Miss has opted to go for in on fourth down 34 times, which leads the nation, as Kiffin rarely opts to punt when most teams would make that decision. This past weekend, Ole Miss went for it four times on fourth down, converting only once, and Harsin was pleased with Auburn’s ability to prevent any damage.

“That’s pretty good, in our favor,” Harsin said of Auburn’s ability to stop Ole Miss on fourth down. “I didn’t know all the stats, but I knew we converted some [fourth downs]. We knew they would go for it on fourth down, so that was part of our preparation and I think those fourth downs were in the red zone. I believe all of them were. And we were able to make plays, and that’s points. They’re not going to take points in special teams, they’re going to go for it, and we can get the ball back. You kind of think of that as a turnover. And then we had the one interception too in the endzone, that was a big play by Simpson.”

Not only was Auburn able to limit Ole Miss to one fourth-down conversion in four attempts, but as Harsin alluded, defensive coordinator Derek Mason forced the Rebels to turn it over on downs in critical territory. Ole Miss’ three failed conversions came on the Auburn 20-yard line, the Auburn 13-yard line and the Auburn 18-yard line.

Meanwhile, Harsin and the Auburn Tigers were able to convert both of their fourth-down attempts, extending the offense’s drives in key situations.

“Those were critical moments in the game that we were able to win,” Harsin said. “We obviously had a couple in our favor on fourth down which helped us extend drives, but those are things that are going to happen in a game like this when you’re when you’re playing against a good team that’s scoring a lot of points. That’s their mentality, and we need to have that same mindset going into this game to stop them and also convert some of our fourth downs.”

Matt Corral injury hampered Ole Miss against Auburn

Perhaps Harsin had it easy, as Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral — a Heisman Trophy candidate before his uncharacteristically quiet performance against Auburn — was sidelined with an injury early in the contest. Although Corral later returned to the field after a short trip to the locker room, he may not have been his typical self.

Corral on first-and-10 took a shotgun snap and ran a play-action play, but a blitzing Auburn defender forced the Ole Miss quarterback to turn and run further out of the pocket. Before Corral could throw a pass, which was ultimately deflected and caught by an Ole Miss offensive lineman, his ankle appeared to get stuck beneath the body of the Auburn defender.

Corral began hopping on one leg before dropping on all fours and punching the field in frustration. Ole Miss took an injury timeout and the trainers quickly took to the field to attend to Corral’s ankle, which appeared on the broadcast to be twitching while he was down. Though Ole Miss did not immediately bring out a cart, Corral needed the help of two trainers to exit the field. Minutes later, however, Ole Miss did bring out the cart to take Corral to the locker room.

One drive after being carted off, however, the broadcast cut to the tunnel and revealed Corral walking back onto the field from the tunnel on his own accord. It’s unclear if Corral does re-enter the game, but he was wearing full pads when he reemerged from the tunnel and he was hardly limping.