In another sign that Auburn football is being wildly overlooked heading into the 2021 season, Ole Miss has surpassed the Tigers in votes of confidence from AL.com in their 75th Annual Spring Football Report.
The Rebels are expected to be competitive in 2021 behind the arm of Matt Corral, who many see as a potential franchise quarterback at the pro level. Does that mean they will be able to overcome their porous defense to become a top 5 team in the SEC?
Time will tell, but AL.com predicts that Auburn football will fall out of the top four of the SEC West and fall into the bottom half of the SEC overall.
Here’s the final voting breakdown:
"Texas A&M finished third in this year’s overall poll with 139 points, one point head of 2020 SEC runner-up Florida with 138. LSU was fifth with 121 points, followed by sixth-place Ole Miss with 102 and seventh-place Auburn with 87. Missouri finished eighth with 76 points, followed by Kentucky (70), Arkansas (63), Tennessee (55), Mississippi State (48), South Carolina (39) and Vanderbilt (13)."
Just a season ago, Ole Miss was one of two teams to cede 500 yards per game, with the other being the 127th (out of 127) ranked North Texas Mean Green. Adding three 4-star recruits (Tysheem Johnson, Dink Jackson, Markevious Brown) to the secondary should help stop the bleeding on the point prevention side.
Corral by himself could win games against the likes of Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Tennessee. But it’s going to take a far more herculean effort when the Rebels visit Jordan-Hare Stadium on October 30th.
Between Tank Bigsby looking to establish his Heisman candidacy, Bo Nix looking to stave off the competition at QB, and/or TJ Finley even overtaking the starting role by Week 9 of the college football season, the offense should be primed to once again put up at least one score per quarter against the Rebels.
The defense–fortified by the transfer additions of Tony Fair, Dreshun Miller, Donovan Kaufman, and Bydarrius Knighten coupled with the Class of 2021 signings of Lee Hunter, Ahmari Harvey and Marquis Robinson–should be tougher to score on than they were last season. Corral threw for a touchdown and two interceptions last season in Oxford against Auburn football.
Have your fun now, Ole Miss fans. The narrative could change quickly in 2021 if Bryan Harsin and the Tigers overcome early growing pains adjusting to new coaching schemes on both ends of the ball.