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They’re Still In: Auburn Football at Ole Miss Game Recap

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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It wasn’t pretty, but the Auburn football team found a way to win Saturday night in Oxford.

The ugliest part, unfortunately, was what appeared to be a severe lower leg injury to Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell after he caught a short pass and apparently scored a go-ahead touchdown. Instead, the star sophomore was dragged down violently by Kris Frost and fumbled prior to crossing the goal line. Cassanova McKinzy recovered and kept the Rebels off the scoreboard, but needed one more defensive stop to seal a 35-31 victory.

Entering the game as the third ranked team thy the College Football Playoff committee, the Tigers were an underdog for for the first time this season facing the No. 4, 7-1 Ole Miss Rebels in a major SEC West battle. The Tigers got off to a great start, but it was a back-and-forth slugfest until the end.

Quarterback Nick Marshall drove the offense down the field on the game’s opening possession and capped off a quick touchdown drive with a 2-yard run. It was the first touchdown Ole Miss allowed in a first quarter this year and the Rebels had held opponents to a 62-3 deficit in the first fifteen minutes of games entering the contest.

Marshall was 3-for-3 for 50 yards passing on the drive, including a magnificent catch by D’haquille Williams, who had three catches for 71 yards.

After the teams traded punts, Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace orchestrated a long drive of his own that ended with a short touchdown run by I’tavius Mathers. The running back finished with 43 yards on seven carries.

Auburn had a big opportunity to take a lead in the second quarter, but turned the ball over deep in Ole Miss territory. After a terrible Rebels punt gave the Tigers the ball across midfield, Marshall was intercepted by Senquez Golson in the red zone.

After the initial touchdown, Auburn’s next five drives resulted in two punts, an interception and another two punts. The Ole Miss defense that looked rattled when the Tigers drove down and scored easily settled down and put the breaks on the Auburn offense. Following the third Auburn punt of the night, the Rebels took the lead for the first time.

Wallace broke free on a 59-yard run with a face mask penalty tacked on. On the following play, a 1st-and-Goal from the 10-yard line – Wallace found Laquon Treadwell on a receiver screen for a touchdown to give Ole Miss a 14-7 advantage with 6:02 remaining in the half. The senior quarterback completed 28 of 40 passes in the game for 362 yards and two TDs and was the Rebels’ leading rusher with 61 yards on 14 carries. But he was sacked five times by the Tigers. Kris Frost, Cassanova McKinzy, Angelo Blackson, Montravius Adams and Gimel President each got to Wallace and were credited with the sacks.

After forcing a punt, Auburn took over at their own 43-yard line with 1:38 on the clock before halftime. On the first play, Marshall found Sammie Coates for a 57-yard bomb for a touchdown to tie the game at 14. The TD toss gave Marshall 111 yards on 5-for-8 passing in the first 30 minutes. He finished 15-for-22 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and was intercepted one. The senior QB added 50 yards and two touchdown runs on ten carries as well.

It was Coates’ second catch of the night and he finished with five grabs for 122 yards and the touchdown.

The quick strike left enough time on the clock for Ole Miss to add a 47-yard field goal and take a 17-14 lead. The drive was accelerated by a pass interference penalty called on Jonathon Mincy on a third down pass play. It was the tenth penalty called on the Tigers in the first 30 minutes of the contest for an already season-high 105 yards. They finished with an SEC-high 135 yards in penalties.

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Cameron Artis-Payne took over in the second half and led the rushing attack for the Tigers. Artis-Payne had 47 yards on eight attempts in the first half, but carried the ball 19 times after halftime and finished with 143 yards and a very important touchdown. Corey Grant added 26 yards on four carries and Roc Thomas and Ricardo Louis contributed 18 and 16, respectively. Thomas left the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter and did not return.

Auburn racked up 237 yards in the first half, including 126 on the ground. Coming into the game, Ole Miss had allowed only 10.5 points and 118 rushing yards per game. When the final gun sounded, the Tigers had 507 yards of offense and were as balanced as possible with 253 rushing yards and 254 through the air. Auburn averaged 7.5 yards per play.

Ole Miss took the second half kickoff and drove into Auburn quickly, but couldn’t convert a 4th-and-1 in field goal position. Auburn couldn’t capitalize and punted after a quick three-and-out. Daniel Carlson shanked a 20-yard punt and the Rebels took possession at the 50-yard line. On the very next play, Wallace hit Evan Engram on a quick pass that the tight end took the distance for a touchdown and a 24-14 Ole Miss lead. Engram caught eight passes for 123 yards.

The Tigers answered immediately and proved they can run on the vaulted LandShark defense. After Marshall and Williams connected on a 41-yard third down pass and catch, Cameron Artis-Payne did the heavy lifting and Marshall finished the final two yards in the end zone. The Tigers forced a punt on the following drive and took possession at their 4-yard line. Shortly thereafter, Marcus Davis caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Marshall to cap a 96-yard drive that gave Auburn a 28-24 lead.

But, the lead was short-lived as Bo Wallace ran for a three-yard touchdown at the end of the very next drive and Ole Miss went up again, 31-28.

However, Auburn responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive to re-take the lead. Cameron Artis-Payne found the end zone, but the play of the drive (and perhaps the play of the game) was Marshall finding a leaping Sammie Coates for a 39-yard completion that converted a 3rd-down and long near midfield.

Ole Miss had chances to take the lead once more, but a costly Wallace fumble in the red zone, and the Treadwell fumble ended the best scoring chances for the Rebels. The turnovers were much needed for an Auburn defense that allowed 492 yards and displayed poor tackling often. The sin gives Auburn a 7-1 record and a 4-1 mark in the SEC. Ole Miss dropped to 7-2 and 4-2 in league play. The Tigers will host Texas A&M Saturday at 2:30 Central.


Next: Auburn at Ole Miss: 5 Bold Predictions

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