No. 10 Ole Miss Travels Over to the Plains to Tangle with the No.18 Tigers

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

No. 10 Ole Miss closes out the month of October on the road as they travel over to the Plains of Auburn to take on the No. 18 Auburn Tigers on Saturday. The kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium and can be seen on ESPN.

Ole Miss (6-1, 3-1 SEC) has been on a roll since the Alabama game to open the month, by defeating Arkansas, Tennessee and the latest the LSU Tigers by a score of 31-17.

This season, the Rebels rank top 10 in the country in six separate categories: total offense (541.1), scoring offense (41.9), rushing offense (263.3), first downs (195), passes had intercepted (1) and turnovers lost (5).

Junior quarterback Matt Corral has put up Heisman numbers through the first seven games. He ranks top 10 nationally in total offense (341.0 ypg), passing efficiency (168.2), points responsible for (146) and yards per pass attempt (9.24).

The defense played a big part in the LSU win with big plays from Chance Campbell and Sam Williams. Campbell (8.0), Otis Reese (7.7) and Mark Robinson (7.3) all rank in the top 20 amongst SEC players in tackles per game.

Ole Miss’ defense ranks No. 12 nationally and second in the SEC in sacks per game (3.3).

Auburn (5-2, 2-1 SEC) is coming into this matchup out of a bye week following a 38-23 win over No. 17 Arkansas on Oct. 16.

Quarterback Bo Nix spearheads the offense, completing 61 percent of his passes. Nix has thrown for nearly 1,500 yards this season with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. In the backfield with him is running back Tank Bigsby, who started the season off with three straight 100-yard rushing games but has since cooled off. Bigsby averages 75.1 yards per game and has found the end zone six times so far in 2021. Jarquez Hunter is another back for Auburn who splits the workload. He’s racked up 492 yards and three scores throughout the first seven contests. Out wide, Nix has thrown touchdown passes to seven different receivers. Senior Demetris Robertson leads the team with 23 receptions for 312 yards and three touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, linebackers Zakoby McClain and Chandler Wooten pace the team with 53 and 52 tackles, respectively. As a team, Auburn has tallied 19.0 sacks and six takeaways.

Saturday will be the 46th all-time meeting in the series between the two programs. The Tigers lead the series 33-10 over the Rebels and a 16-3 advantage on games in Auburn.