Ole Miss football rides blazing rushing attack to 48-34 win over Auburn
OXFORD − Ole Miss football endured some flashbacks to the early days of the Lane Kiffin era but ultimately matched its best start in six decades.
The No. 9 Rebels held off a comeback attempt from Auburn to beat the Tigers 48-34from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday. With the win, Ole Miss (7-0, 3-0 SEC) has won its first seven games in a season for just the second time since 1962, tying the 2014's mark for the best start to a season this century.
After building a 21-point lead in the first 16 minutes of the game, Ole Miss and Auburn went back-and-forth in a run-first track meet. The Rebels ran for 448 yards, a season-high and the most in an SEC game since 1979. But Auburn (3-4, 1-3) countered with a dominant rushing day from running back Tank Bigsby, who carried for 179 yards and two scores.
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Ole Miss had four players run for more than 60 yards, including three who broke 100.Running backs Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins combined for 275 yards and five touchdowns, and quarterback Jaxson Dart ran for 115 yards and threw three touchdowns. This was the first time that Ole Miss had three 100-yard rushers in a game since at least 1976 when game-by-game data first became available.
Auburn became the first team to score more than 30 points against Ole Miss since the Tigers did so last season.
The game was interrupted by a 30-minute lightning delay in the fourth quarter but was resumed at 3:10 p.m., after which the final six minutes of the game were played.
Another hot start wasted
Ole Miss continued its frustrating trend of building and squandering big first-half leads. The Rebels led 21-0 early in the second quarter and looked poised to cruise to victory, but Auburn trimmed Ole Miss' lead to one score within 10 minutes and went into halftime trailing by 11.
The Rebels let a 35-14 first-half lead against Tulsa turn into a narrow 35-27 win. Against Kentucky, a 19-6 first-half lead turned into a 22-19 win. This time, the cycle accelerated itself and the Rebels almost blew their entire lead as quickly as they built it.
What's with the run defense?
Auburn barely needed to throw the ball on the way to the best offensive performance any team has had against Ole Miss in almost a year. The Tigers turned the game into a track meet by rushing for 301 yards on 48 carries. Adjusting for sacks, the Tigers ran for 327 yards on 7.3 yards per carry.
This isn't the first time the Rebels have been gashed on the ground by a team with big running backs and a mobile quarterback. Tulsa deployed a similar gameplan to run for 262 yards in another game the Rebels had trouble putting away.
The turnover battle
Ole Miss built its early lead on the back of short fields won from turnovers. Safety AJ Finley intercepted a tipped pass and defensive end Tavius Robinson forced a fumble on a sack, setting up two scoring drives that began inside Auburn territory.
The Rebels' defense has done a good job of creating for its offense this year, relying on tackles-for-loss and takeaways to set up the offense for easy scores. But on drives where those negative plays are as easy to come by, the defense has proven susceptible to big gains, especially on run plays.
What's next?
Ole Miss football returns to action next week in Baton Rouge against LSU. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on CBS.
Contact Nick Suss at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ole Miss football runs Auburn off field, stays undefeated, wins 48-34
