The connection between Bo Nix and Seth Williams has always been there, and against Ole Miss, the tandem’s effectiveness was in full effect during the 35-28 victory.
Saturday, Williams caught eight passes from Nix for a team-leading 150 receiving yards and a touchdown. The touchdown, a bullet pass into double coverage, went for 58-yards and turned out to be the game-winning score for Auburn.
35 points are the Tigers' highest-scoring game this season. The team converted 11-of-16 third downs and scored a touchdown on every trip to the red zone.
“I think we did pretty well,” Williams said. “We executed on third-down, that was a big focus on what we had to do. We knew going into this week that third down was a big thing for us, and we executed on that.”
The Auburn offense racked up 462 yards of total offense with 238 yards coming from the air. Nix found six different receivers, but it was clear that Williams was the go-to-guy. When it mattered most, Nix found Williams.
Trailing 28-27 with 2:25 left, the Tigers started their final drive at their own 20-yard-line. The first play was a 4-yard loss after Nix was sacked. A 13-yard catch from Eli Stove and later a 27-yarder from Anthony Schwartz set the Tigers up at almost midfield.
On first-and-10, Nix dropped back and was looking for the open man. Beating his man, Williams was able to spin his head and hands around to catch a dart from Nix over the right shoulder of the trailing corner, about two feet off the sideline.
With the Rebel’s safety coming in over the top, Williams was able to pluck the ball and readjust to dodge the oncoming tackler, leaving the defender on the ground and the corner still trailing.
Downfield blocking by Stove, kept the only potential tackler away as Williams sprinted his way to the back of the endzone.
“That last drive, everybody just came out with the mindset that we weren’t going to lose,” Williams said. “We practice 2-minute drives over and over and over again, so everybody felt comfortable and we came out and executed.”
After the touchdown, Nix found Williams on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt to put the Tigers up seven with barely over a minute left.
Williams has now caught at least one pass in every game he has played in with Nix.
Through five games, Williams has 424 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Williams now has 1,788 career receiving yards, which is tenth all-time for Auburn. He is fifth overall in school history for career receiving touchdowns with 16.
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