Auburn will travel to Oxford, Miss. this weekend for its annual meeting with Ole Miss, and the 1-4 football team badly needs a win.
\0x17The Tigers are coming off\0xAD a dismal o\0xADffensive performance against what was thought to be a weak Arkansas defense, and Auburn is last in the SEC West, a place occupied by Ole Miss for the past two seasons.
The Auburn quarterbacks threw three combined interceptions and two di\0xADfferent o\0xADffensive players fumbled the ball last week. The offensive line allowed eight sacks.
Besides coming off a miserable loss, there is not even a certain starting quarterback for Auburn, as Kiehl Frazier and Clint Moseley each played a half last week. Frazier started last week's game and was 9-of-14 passing with an interception, while Moseley came in after halftime and completed 13-of-21 throws, one of which was for a touchdown and two were picked o\0xADff.
\0x17The Tigers have not lost to Ole Miss since 2008, and will try to extend their win streak over the Rebels to four.
Ole Miss is 3-3 so far, already surpassing last season's win total, but has lost both conference games. \0x17The Rebels' other loss came against Texas.
Last week, the team from Oxford played SEC-newcomer Texas A&M close, but came up three points short.
Ole Miss rolled for 464 yards and 27 points on offense, but gave up 481 yards and 30 points on defense.
Rebel quarterback Bo Wallace passed for 305 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in the loss. A glaring statistic was the 290 yards Ole Miss gave up on the ground.
If Auburn is to have any chance, the running backs will need to exploit this apparent weakness.
Last week the Auburn running game gained only 40 net yards, but Moseley lost 43 yards and Frazier was backed up another 25 yards. Running backs Mike Blakely and Tre Mason averaged more than \0x935 yards per carry, but only had a total of 13 rushes.
The glaring inadequacies of the Auburn football team through five games has led more than a few people to question whether head coach Gene Chizik's job is safe, and while it's highly doubtful his position is in jeopardy at this moment, the head coach is surely feeling the heat coming off\0xAD the seat.
As the Auburn head coach, there is only one way to cool off\0xAD the hot seat: win this weekend at Ole Miss.
The problem is the Rebels look nothing like they have for the past three years.
The Ole Miss offense is far more potent under new head coach Hugh Freeze, and the team is averaging more than 400 yards and just above 30 points each game.
The Rebels have smashed the teams they were expected to defeat and have been beaten by the teams that were supposed to have defeated them, but Ole Miss is still favored by four and a half points at home, likely because of its improved o\0xADffense and Auburn's contemptible play thus far.
For the second week in a row, the Tigers will be playing a defense that has been dreadful, and Auburn needs to capitalize on the weakness this Saturday.
To accomplish this e\0xADffectively, the team must maintain possession of the ball and avoid turnovers.
With bowl game hopes fading more every Saturday, Auburn must begin to win to avoid winning the "Worst in the SEC West" title.
Game time is at 11:21 a.m., and will air on the SEC Network.
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