Auburn quarterback Bo Nix directed two fourth-quarter
touchdown drives, capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass to Seth Williams with
1:11 left, to lift the Tigers to a 35-28 comeback win over Mississippi on Saturday.
Auburn (3-2 Southeastern) rallied from a 28-27 deficit on its final
offensive series, covering 80 yards in six plays. Williams, finishing with
eight catches for 134 yards, caught Nix’s pass in front of the Auburn
sideline, twisted away from two tacklers and turned up the sideline to
easily race for the decisive touchdown.
Ole Miss (1-4) reached the Auburn 29-yard line in the final 10 seconds.
Auburn forced an incomplete pass and preserved the win on a game-ending
Ole Miss infraction as quarterback Matt Corral advanced past the line of
scrimmage before throwing a desperation pass that would have counted as a
Jordyn Peters interception without the penalty.
Tank Bigsby had touchdown runs of 4 and 18 yards and finished with 129
yards on 24 carries as the Tigers finished with a turnover free 462 yards
of total offense. Nix finished 23 of 30 passing for 238 yards, with the
biggest plays reserved for Williams. Shaun Shivers and Nix had touchdown
runs over 1 and 4 yards, respectively.
Corral had touchdown runs of 5 and 10 yards and was 16 of 27 for 154 yards
passing, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore. Jerrion Ealy
had a 5-yard touchdown run to give Ole Miss a 28-27 lead with 5:43 left,
setting up Auburn’s game-winning drive.
THE TAKEAWAY
Auburn: After two failed attempts, the Tigers won a road game. The Tigers
won with fourth quarter heroics for the third time this season, this time
on the strength of the Nix-Williams combination and a 4 for 4 performance
in the red zone. The special teams struggled with a pair of bad snaps in
kicking situations and had a kickoff return touchdown by Bigsby wiped out
on a holding penalty.
Ole Miss: The Rebels rolled up 444 yards, but finished 4 of 6 in the red
zone, including a turnover and an unsuccessful fake field goal attempt.
Sam Williams had 11 tackles, including a sack and three tackles for loss,
but the defense could not preserve a late lead. The remaining schedule
appears to lighten up a bit, as four of the remaining five opponents have
losing records.
UP NEXT
Auburn: The Tigers host LSU on Saturday.
Ole Miss: The Rebels visit winless Vanderbilt on Saturday.