Auburn Live Game Day: The basics ahead of Auburn at No. 9 Ole Miss
It’s game day.
Auburn (3-3, 1-2) travels to No. 9 Ole MIss (6-0, 2-0) on Saturday for an SEC West showdown at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. This is the Tigers’ final game of seven straight games to start the season before a bye week next week.
Not to harp on bad omens, but Auburn has only lost three times in Oxford: 1992, 2008 and 2012. All three times the Tigers made a head coaching change after the season. Now, embattled Bryan Harsin leads his team into Oxford for the first time hoping to break that trend.
What to watch for
Can Auburn’s offensive line find any success at all? Believe it or not, sources inside the program thought the Tigers were protecting Robby Ashford well and doing some “OK” things in the first half against Georgia. Then Austin Troxell was injured and replaced by Brenden Coffey, Alec Jackson was injured and replaced by Keiondre Jones, and things really went sideways in the second half, as they often do. This will be third straight game of Brandon Council starting at center and the Tigers have to find some rhythm with that group. Auburn ranks 75th nationally in rushing offense. It’s the lowest ranking since the Tigers finished 80th in rushing in…2012. Ole Miss allowed 262 rushing yards to Tulsa three weeks ago, so it’s possible some success can be had.
When you think about Lane Kiffin, you think about fast-paced offense, points, trick plays, fourth-down attempts and all that. What you might not think about is the fact that the Rebels are 8th nationally in rushing, racking up 252 yards per game. The two-headed monster of Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins is a tough test for an Auburn defense coming off allowing 292 yards rushing at Georgia on just 39 carries. Of note: Ole Miss is coming off their lowest rushing total of the season, netting 143 yards against Vanderbilt last Saturday.
Can schedules and competition matter leading into this game? Auburn has played (and lost big) to now No. 10 Penn State and No. 2 Georgia. The Tigers have also played a competitive LSU team. Meanwhile, Ole Miss has played Troy, Central Arkansas, at Georgia Tech, Tulsa, ranked Kentucky and Vanderbilt. There’s no question that Auburn is more battle tested at this point in the season. Are Ole Miss’ rushing numbers for real? Or did the competition aid in bloating those numbers?
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The Rebels have momentum, which Auburn clearly doesn’t have, and is playing at home. But the first half could be interesting to see if Auburn’s lessons learned so far this season can help have success against a somewhat unproven Ole Miss team.
Important links
The 3-2-1 ahead of Auburn and Ole Miss
The Modcast ahead of the Ole Miss game
Series history between Auburn and Ole Miss
Auburn is 35-11 in 46 all-time games against Ole Miss. The Tigers have won six straight in the series. Auburn leads the series 17-3 in Auburn and 13-3 in Oxford.
The Tigers won this football game 31-20 last season in Harsin’s only top-ten win of his tenure at Auburn, so far. Auburn and Ole Miss combined for 45 first-half points and just six second-half points, as Kiffin and Ole Miss were stopped three times on fourth down in the second half.
Twelve of the last 18 games in this series have been decided by double digits. Auburn is 10-2 in those games.
