Auburn football had a productive trip down the recruiting trail during its bye week, but things heat up again next weekend as first-year head coach Bryan Harsin’s Tigers gear up to face their third Top 10 opponent of the season.
After taking care of LSU at home, the Ole Miss Rebels moved up to the #10 spot in the AP Poll while the Tigers snuck up to #18 despite seeing no game action. Since their defeat of the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Tigers have landed themselves a chance to earn the trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship.
However, several tough SEC opponents stand in their way, beginning with the Ole Miss Rebels this weekend in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Though Auburn football heads into another game as the underdog, the Tigers will have rest on their side heading into a very important game. Last weekend saw Ole Miss get beat up and worn down by the Tennessee Volunteers, and they went straight into four quarters of tough football with LSU.
Meanwhile, the Tigers will be coming off a bye-week and will be well-rested and well-prepared for the Rebels, whose team is very similar to that of the Arkansas Razorbacks, according to AL.com:
"The Rebels employ the same base defense, use a run-first up-tempo offense, feature a good running quarterback and can uncork explosive passing plays. Copy and paste “Razorbacks” into that sentence and it will remain totally accurate."
Bryan Harsin and the Tigers had complete and total success over Sam Pittman’s Arkansas team, so can they pull off the same win over Lane Kiffin’s team, who has spent the past three weeks playing Alabama, Tennessee, and LSU?
It’s very possible. People don’t call Jordan-Hare stadium a tough environment for no reason. If the Tigers play solid football on Saturday, it’s likely they’ll be well on their way to a 6-2 record.