No. 9 Ole Miss Welcomes in Auburn

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

No. 9 Ole Miss welcomes in SEC Western division foe the Auburn Tigers into Vaught-Hemingway on Saturday. Kick is set for 11 a.m. and can be seen on ESPN.

Ole Miss (6-0, 2-0 SEC) is coming off a 52-28 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville last week.

The Rebels’ wide receiver Jonathan Mingo rewrote the single game receiving record with a 247-yard game. The record was held by Elijah Moore at 238 yards set against the Commodores.

This season, Mingo leads the SEC in receiving yards (507) and yards per reception (23.05), which is second nationally.

Ole Miss ranks first in the SEC and No. 6 nationally converting on third downs 53.2 percent of the time.

Ole Miss’ rushing game is tied with No. 1 Georgia for the FBS lead in total rushing touchdowns (21), and rank within the FBS top 20 in total rushing yards (1,452), yards per game (242.0), total attempts (261) and yards per rush (5.56).

Freshman tail back Quinshon Judkins leads all freshman nationally with eight total touchdowns on the season.

The Rebels defense have forced a turnover in 26 of the 29 games in the Lane Kiffin era.

Auburn travels to Oxford holding a 3-3 record in 2022, with the team coming off of a 42-10 loss in Athens to the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

The Tigers offense is led by redshirt-freshman quarterback Robby Ashford, who has now made three consecutive starts for the Tigers. Ashford brings dual-threat capabilities to the Auburn backfield, so far throwing for 874 yards and four touchdowns in 2022 along with running for 274 yards and one score on the ground.

The Tigers will also lean on leading rusher Tank Bigsby, who has so far logged 345 yards rushing and four touchdowns on the year.

Defensively, the Tigers are led by senior edge rusher Derick Hall with the Gulfport, Mississippi, native currently leading the team in TFLS (7) and sacks (4) while tallying 30 total tackles this year. Additionally, Hall has logged the team’s lone interception of 2022. Senior linebacker Owen Pappoe leads the Tigers in tackles this season with 42 after having to battle an ankle injury in 2021 that kept him out of eight of the team’s 13 contests a year ago.

Saturday will be the 47th meeting between the two programs. Auburn holds a 35-10 advantage over Ole Miss in the all-time series. The original record is 35-11 in favor of Auburn, with Ole Miss’ win in 2012 vacated due to NCAA ruling.

For the games played in Oxford, Auburn leads 13-2 in Oxford, 13-3 in games played on the field … Ole Miss’ win in 2012 was vacated by NCAA ruling.

Ole Miss will honor the men and women of the Military. The university’s mission to honor and support its student veterans does not go unnoticed by its military faculty and staff. Notable alumni and service members will be recognized during the game and halftime will feature a special tribute to our nation’s military by The Pride of the South marching band.