Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral carted off after ankle injury

The fate of the No. 10 Ole Miss-No. 18 Auburn game — and, by extension, the fate of Ole Miss’ season — took a big turn in the first quarter of Saturday’s contest, when Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Corral went down with an ankle injury.

Corral’s night appears to be over, as Ole Miss had to roll out an injury cart to take him to the locker room, but Ole Miss has not officially declared him out. He was immediately replaced by freshman Luke Altmyer, a four-star recruit from Starkville, Mississippi making his collegiate debut.

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.

Matt Corral went down after this play 🙏 pic.twitter.com/as3upVv6hm

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 30, 2021

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.

According to the ESPN broadcast, after Corral went to the sidelines, he hopped on an exercise bike and tried to fight through the ankle injury before Ole Miss carted him off.

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.

After being carted off, Matt Corral must have gotten the good stuff in the locker room because now he’s walking out and being re-taped. pic.twitter.com/vJoH0Wp0rZ

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 30, 2021

At the time of Corral’s injury, he completed six of nine passing attempts for no touchdowns and no interceptions. Altmyer, in his first drive-and-a-half under center, completed all five of his passing attempts for 18 yards.

Ole Miss trails Auburn 14-10 with 8:19 left in the first half. The Rebels’ only touchdown of the night came off a touchdown run from Snoop Connor, while Auburn has picked up two rushing touchdowns — one from running back Tank Bigsby and another courtesy of quarterback Bo Nix.