In a game where Auburn was a heavy favorite, many fans were looking for the Tigers to bounce back and dominate Ole Miss following a tough loss to LSU. While Auburn did come away with the victory, it wasn’t how many saw it playing out.
The game came down to the last play when Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee threw an interception, which sealed the 20-14 victory. With only a bye week separating Auburn from a matchup with Georgia, the Tigers will have a lot to improve on before taking on the Bulldogs.
Let's hand out some grades.
Quarterback: B+
Statistically speaking, this was a great game for Nix. He completed 30-of-44 passes for 340 yards — all career highs — along with a rushing touchdown.
However, Nix overthrew and underthrew his receivers several times, and lost a fumble on Auburn’s third drive of the game that was recovered by Ole Miss. Nix struggled with long pass timings earlier in the season and that issue plagued him again Saturday.
After struggling to ever get anything going against LSU, for the most part Nix looked much more comfortable against Ole Miss. He had more time in the pocket to throw, moved through the pocket fluidly and had the offense moving the ball up and down the field consistently to the tune of 507 yards.
Running Backs: A-
Following the injury to starting running back Boobee Whitlow, true freshman D.J. Williams has had the chance to prove himself. In the loss to LSU, Williams ran for 130 yards on 13 carries. In the Ole Miss game, Williams ran 24 times for 93 yards and a touchdown. Williams also caught three passes for 11 yards.
Following Williams was senior Kam Martin, who carried it seven times for 33 yards.
The biggest play out of the running backs came in the passing game, when Harold Joiner caught a wheel route that ended up being a 78-yard reception. Joiner has been a player that fans have been hoping to get involved more and he took advantage of that opportunity Saturday against Ole Miss.
As a team Auburn averaged 3.6 yards per carry.
Auburn will hope that Whitlow can play against Georgia in two weeks after seeing limited snaps against LSU and none against Ole Miss.
Wide Receivers: C
It was an uncharacteristically bad day for Auburn wide receivers. Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz, Will Hastings and Jay Jay Wilson all dropped at least one pass on the day.
Williams, the leading receiver, only hauled in six of his 11 targets on the day while Schwartz caught a career-high nine passes on 12 targets.
Part of this can come back to a couple overthrows from Nix, but there were several spot-on passes that were dropped.
Schwartz lead the team with 89 receiving yards, including a 50-yard catch early in the game. Eli Stove also saw the field more, catching five of his six targets for 44 yards.
Offensive Line: A-
The offensive line looked much better against Ole Miss following a game against LSU where it was penalized five times and the starting center was benched.
On Saturday, there were no false start penalties and new starting center Nick Brahms did a respectable job in his new role.
They only allowed one sack on the day, and Nix looked much more comfortable in the pocket. The running backs also seemed to have bigger holes to run through, as they ran for 167 yards, mostly on carries through the middle of the field.
The best part of the offensive line's game came from Prince Tega Wanogho picking up D.J. Williams and body-slamming him into the end zone.
With no penalties and only allowing one sack all day, this was one of the better performances of the season for the o-line.
Defensive Line: B
With Marlon Davidson out for the game, Auburn looked toward several different players to fill that key role. Both Derick Hall and Nick Coe got involved with a total of five tackles between the two players and half a tackle for loss for Coe.
Derrick Brown had a big game as usual, recording seven total tackles to go along with a tackle for loss.
Where this grade suffers is from tallying zero sacks on the day and allowing Plumlee and Ole Miss to consistently run the ball. Plumlee finished the game with 17 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown, and Ole Miss as a whole ran for 167 yards. Part of this falls on the linebackers, but the defensive line also can take the blame for some of it.
Brown was also called for two penalties on the day, and there was one offsides penalty for the defensive line.
By no means was this a bad game out of the Auburn defensive line, but it also wasn’t its best game. The D-line will look to get healthier in the bye week.
Linebackers: B
As previously mentioned, Auburn did not have much of an answer for Plumlee’s running game. This can be partially attributed to the defensive line but a lot of that responsibility falls on the linebackers.
On the day K.J. Britt recorded six total tackles with half a tackle for loss while freshman Owen Pappoe had five tackles.
Secondary: A+
Secondary leader Jeremiah Dinson was out for the game but the secondary stepped up as a whole.
Ole Miss completed only 14-of-27 passes with no touchdowns and an interception by Christian Tutt, which ended up icing the game.
The longest pass the secondary gave up was 25 yards and on the day it only gave up 99 yards through the air.
Some of this can come from an Ole Miss team that struggles to pass the ball, but credit where is due: the Auburn secondary locked down for the most part.
With Dinson out, safety Daniel Thomas led the way with seven total tackles and was followed up by Jamien Sherwood with six.
Special Teams: D-
It was a subpar special for Auburn special teams all around.
To start, kicker Anders Carlson went 2-of-5 on field goal attempts, missing from 42, 49 and 49 again.
Punter Arryn Siposs had an average of 38 yards per punt and Auburn also struggled to cover the punt.
Early in the season Auburn was dead-last in the country on punt coverage, and after working on a few things they improved drastically. On Saturday however, the Tigers gave up a 55-yard punt return to an Ole Miss team who only had 10 yards on punt returns for the whole season.
The only thing saving this grade from an "F" was Noah Igbinoghene’s 46-yard kick return to start the second half.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
