It was a similar night to two years ago when these two teams last met in Jordan-Hare Stadium. This time, though, Auburn fans came prepared for the dropping temperatures and watched their Tigers get the win against No. 10 Ole Miss.
"I’m really proud of this team coming off a bye week and putting in the work," said head coach Bryan Harsin. "They kept the same mentality in this game. I didn’t see anybody on the sideline flinch. Everybody had the right response in some critical moments to do what we needed to do to win the game."
Bo Nix accounted for three touchdowns and Auburn’s offense out-performed a highly-praised Ole Miss team with a 31-20 victory, extending the Tigers’ win streak over the Rebels to six in a row.
"I think he's playing consistent," Harsin said of Nix. "Consistency is the key at the quarterback position. He's making good decision, he's throwing the ball well. He's a weapon with his legs and I think he's utilizing that the right way. There's a good balance, he's just getting better."
With the win, Auburn still controls its destiny in the SEC West. If the Tigers win out, they secure a spot in the SEC Championship for the first time since 2017. There’s still plenty of work to do, with Texas A&M and Alabama still looming large on the schedule, but a win over No. 10 Ole Miss was crucial to those hopes.
Auburn’s offense was smooth and successful in the first half for the most part. Auburn had five drives and four of them resulted in Tiger touchdowns. Two drives lasted under two minutes.
"The first few touchdowns, they were just great play calls," Nix said.
As Auburn jumped out to a 14-3 lead, the first quarter looked like the game could have gotten out of hand quickly.
Especially when Ole Miss saw arguably its best player go down. On a first down play, Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral rolled out to the right, threw a pass before going down to the ground.
The Heisman candidate appeared to have suffered an ankle injury, was helped off the sideline and eventually carted to the locker room.
Backup quarterback Luke Altmyer relieved Corral and was sacked on his first play from scrimmage. Jordan-Hare Stadium got even louder on the next play, when Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe, who was playing in his first game back from injury, reintroduced himself with a hit in the backfield that brought up fourth down.
Pappoe had not played since the Penn State game but returned against Ole Miss. He recorded five tackles and a tackle for loss in his return.
All momentum was in Auburn’s favor before the Ole Miss defense forced a three-and-out. On the ensuing Ole miss possession, Corral made his return just under the 10-minute mark in the second quarter.
The Rebels reached the end zone for the first time, early in the second quarter, when Snoop Conner scored from 13 yards out. It chipped away at the lead, but Auburn still led 14-10.
Despite stopping the Tigers on their previous drive, Auburn’s offense looked as fresh as it did on the first drive when it stepped back on the field. Tank Bigsby had a few rushes and Nix had a 35-yard pass to Demetris Robertson.
Nix was roughed on the play, with the penalty moving the Tigers inside the 10 and leading to a quarterback keeper with Nix taking it in himself for the score.
Ole Miss and Corral responded with a near-identical drive, moving the ball downfield before the play-caller scored on a quarterback keeper.
Auburn’s two-minute offense kicked into gear, scoring another touchdown in a little over two minutes to go up 28-17 at halftime.
It was a blank slate for both defenses in the second half, making major adjustments to slow the opposing offense. After 45 total points were scored in the first 30 minutes, only six total points were scored to close out the game.
Ole Miss reached Auburn territory five times in the second half. It scored three points off of those possessions. Four times, Ole Miss went for it on fourth down and all four times, the Auburn defense came up with a stop.
"We knew that they would go for it on fourth down, so that was part of our preparation," Harsin said. "We were able to make plays."
One of those, a rarity occurred, when Corral tossed just his second interception of the season. Jaylin Simpson came down with it in the end zone, giving the ball back to the Auburn offense and preventing a score in the fourth quarter.
Auburn drove to about midfield, but fumbled and gave Ole Miss another shot at putting points on the board. As time ran off the clock, the Rebels' opportunities were becoming limited and unfortunately for Lane Kiffin's crew, ran out.
It seemed only fitting for the Auburn defense to finish the game the way it had played in the second half, by making a fourth-down stop with its backs against the wall.
Auburn’s run game finished it off and the party was on in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"It was a huge statement game," Nix said. "Beating a Top 10 team at home, there's just nothing like it. That's just good for the program, it's good for where we're going."
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Originally from Helena, Ala., Caleb Jones is a senior studying journalism at Auburn University. He has been on staff with The Plainsman since 2019.
You can follow him here on Twitter: @calebjsports
