Oxford, MISS. (EETV) - Auburn (3-4, 1-3 SEC) was handed its first loss by No. 9 Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0 SEC) since 2015 by a score of 48-34 Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
"They played hard, a good football team, and we knew that. Credit to Ole Miss, those guys, they ran the ball well today, and they were physical. We knew they played with tempo, and their quarterback was effective as well with his legs," said Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin. "Overall, we fought today, and I saw some really positive things from a lot of our players, just their effort."
The Rebels dominated the running game and had three 100-yard rushers to show for it. Freshman Quinshon Judkins rushed for 139 yards while adding two touchdowns. Zach Evens followed suit posting 136 yards on the ground with one touchdown, while USC transfer quarterback Jaxson Dart finished the day with 115 rushing yards.
"They had a few formation adjustments that were good, so I did think there was some scheme in there… There were some different looks that they gave us, but they were running hard," Harsin said about Ole Miss taking advantage of the running game. "The backs ran hard. The quarterback, him being a threat, helped the inside zone as well."
This now marks two straight games that the opponent has exposed the Auburn run defense. Last week Georgia managed to rush for 292 yards en route to a victory over the Tigers.
Tank Bigsby led Auburn with 179 rushing yards, along with two touchdowns highlighted by a 50-yard score right after halftime. Jarquez Hunter was able to add 80 rushing yards to that total, but it was not enough in the end to counter the rushing attack of Ole Miss.
"We ran the ball better today, which is what we wanted to do," said Harsin. "We didn't have many negative plays. We had some big, explosive runs today, and that was huge."
Possibly the most daring play in the game with 9:45 left in the third quarter when Lane Kiffin decided to kick an onside kick while only up by one score. Many were shocked, but it worked in favor of the Rebels as they converted and gained possession right back, which ultimately turned into a 38-24 lead for the team in powder blue jerseys.
"That was a good call by them," Harsin said. "Created momentum for them, and obviously, we didn't play it well enough. We're gonna go back and look at it. There's answers for it, there's things you work on, but in that moment right there, you've got to do it. And they did it better than we did in that moment right there."
The turnover issues persisted for the Tigers. Robby Ashford recorded two interceptions and one fumble. Ashford's fumble puts him at eight on the year, which currently leads the nation.
TJ Finley also recorded a fumble of his own in his lone series of the day after seeing his first action since Penn State earlier this year.
Late in the game, the Tigers had multiple opportunities to covert but were unable to. The most prominent of these came with just under ten minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Tigers would go on a 71-yard drive only to be stopped at the Ole Miss four-yard line. Auburn would ultimately be shut down and forced to kick a field goal and leave valuable points up for grabs.
Despite being down 21-0 early in the game, defensive captain Owen Pappoe led the Tigers' defense to a couple of much-needed stops to keep the Tigers in the game. The linebacker led the team with 16 tackles.
"Down 21, you gotta just fight. We ain't playing a video game. That's when people would pass the sticks. We're not gonna do that," said Pappoe.
Defensive mainstay Derrick Hall finished the day with 11 tackles in his home state of Mississippi. Hall was also one of the key pieces in Auburn's fight back from 21 down, which in the end was unsuccessful.
"We gift a lot of things to teams," Hall said on the rushing success. "That's something we have been talking about a lot. We go back and watch the tape, and if a guy is in that gap, then the play is dead. Just some things we have to continue to work on, but it's same stuff we had seen all week. They just exploited our mistakes and offenses want to do that."
Auburn will head into the bye week with work to do. The Tigers will host Arkansas (3-3, 1-3 SEC) Saturday, October 29th, at Jordon-Hare Stadium.
