No. 10 Ole Miss Falls to No. 18 Auburn on the Plains

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 10 Ole Miss falls 31-20 to No. 18 Auburn on the road at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night. 

“Hats off to Auburn,” head coach Lane Kiffin said. “They played really tough. It was also a very tough environment to play in and the crowd was great.”

Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2 SEC) trailed the entire contest and could not get the tying or go-ahead score. The Rebels put up 464 yards of total offense with 307 through the air and 157 on the ground.

Junior quarterback Matt Corral hurt the same ankle as he did against Tennessee, late in the first quarter of the game.

“Matt battled to come back in,” Kiffin said.

During Corral’s absence freshman, Luke Altmyer came in and went 5-for-5 passing for 18 yards.

Corral finished the game 21-37 in the air for 289 yards and an interception. He also carried the ball ten times for 45 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was from 11 yards out.

Ole Miss had wide receiver Dontario Drummond leave the game due to an injury. Prior to going out, he recorded four receptions for 39 yards and a long of 13 yards.

The Rebels had sophomore tight end Casey Kelly and senior Jahcuor Pearson combine for 14 receptions as each brought in seven apiece. Pearson finished the night with 135 yards and Kelly had 81 yards.

“Credit Jahcuor and Casey two walk-on kids who are doing a great job out there,” Kiffin said. “Two hundred yards between the two of them. 

Auburn made it difficult for the Rebels to move the ball on the ground. Henry Parrish Jr. (57) and Snoop Conner (47) combined for 22 touches for 104 yards.

Auburn’s quarterback Bo Nix went 22-of-30 for 276 yards thrown and a touchdown. 

“Bo made a lot of plays for them,” Kiffin said. 

In the first half, Auburn scored 28 points as Nix and running back Tank Bigsby found the end zone. Nix with his legs twice and once with his arm to Jarquez Hunter.

Ole Miss’ defense came out strong in the second half and held Auburn to only three points.

“Our defense played exceptionally well after struggling early,” Kiffin said. “Gave us a bunch of chances offensively to win.

The Rebels forced Auburn to turn the ball over twice as Chance Campbell and Tylan Knight each recovered a fumble.  The defense was led in tackles by AJ Finley with ten on the night.

Ole Miss returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium next Saturday as they step out of conference action to play the Liberty Flames to open the month of November. The Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. on SEC Network.