For a while it looked like Auburn might be the boogeyman terrorizing Ole Miss on Halloween.
The Rebels didn’t have their best game and Tigers’ quarterback Byrum Brown put on his best Houdini performance. Auburn’s offense was nearly impossible to stop on third down no matter the distance and had kept the game within one possession.
But at some point Trinidad Chambliss found his Superman costume, Shekai Mills-Knight turned into X-Men’s Juggernaut and Ole Miss had a big, comfortable 45-15 win.
It was enough to send everyone off to enjoy Halloween night in Oxford. Not that anyone around here has ever needed much encouragement to do that
However, as will get pointed out for the next week leading up to a massive game against No. 3 Georgia, there are plenty of things to be worried about.
As previously noted, Brown was an escape artist the entire game. Ole Miss finished with four sacks, but had pressure on a lot of the passes Brown attempted. He just always had an escape route to extend the play and find an open receiver.
There's a @suntarine hunting you 😶#HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/xNM7CfzLm0
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 31, 2026
It was often successful, especially if it was a third-and-long situation. The Tigers converted 7-of-14 third down attempts and we’ll dive into the exact numbers later, but a lot of those conversions came from long distances.
There was also a big defensive miscommunication in the first half that allowed Auburn to score its first touchdown of the game. A few other deep passes fell incomplete to open receivers by mere inches.
If there was a Halloween curse floating around Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, it apparently found Deuce Alexander.
He dropped an easy touchdown pass from wide receiver Traylon Ray, had another pass bounce off his facemask and into the air for an Auburn interception, a muffed punt and false start penalty at the end of the third quarter.
It really did look like a witch’s curse was cast on him.
So, there are going to be plenty of things to discuss this week. Not all are bad, though.
Mills-Knight had a huge performance in his first full game of action. The sophomore finished with 16 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. Ole Miss was without All-American Kewan Lacy on Saturday and Mills-Knight (as well as Makhi Frazier) made his absence less of a problem.
Of course, Ole Miss still hopes to get Lacy back at some point this season. And if that happens, pairing his shifty running style with Mills-Knight’s bruising approach could give opposing defenses an entirely different problem to deal with.
Then combine that with Chambliss, who made good on the talk this week about him needing to run more (seven runs for 65 yards and a touchdown), and you could have one of the nation’s best backfields.
Chambliss didn’t just have a bounce back game. He provided the Rebels’ offense with the exact element Pete Golding had talked about this week.
He completed 65% of his passes for 263 yards after completing less than half of his passes last week.
In the second half, he played like Superman. He had three runs of 15 yards or more on the first two second half drives, including a 26-yard touchdown run that put Ole Miss up 24-15.
WHO YOU GONNA CALL ☎️@TrinidadChambl1 x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/cJm9flKPqB
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 31, 2026
He then followed it up with a couple of perfectly thrown passes on the next scoring drive. One was a 34-yard completion to Caleb Odom down the middle of the field. The other was his second touchdown pass, a 28-yard fade route to Horatio Fields. It also helped that both Odom and Fields made highlight reel-worthy catches too.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED.@TrinidadChambl1 x @HoratioFields pic.twitter.com/HlxVBypQLf
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 31, 2026
So, yes, there’s plenty for Ole Miss to feel good about as the Halloween parties get underway in Oxford. Chambliss looked like himself again, Mills-Knight provided a glimpse of what he could become and the Rebels found a way to turn a frustrating game into a comfortable victory.
But Halloween isn’t the scariest thing on the schedule anymore.
That would be No. 3 Georgia coming to Oxford next Saturday, with Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff hopes potentially hanging in the balance.
And the Bulldogs aren’t likely to let the Rebels get away with some of the things Auburn did.
