In a Nutshell: Rebels Win! Ole Miss beats Auburn in back-to-back season for first time in 71 years
AUBURN — Ole Miss scored on its first two drives, then went into a dry spell and was tied with Auburn 14-14 at the half. Fortunately, the Rebels finished strong, scoring twice in the second half, once late in the third quarter and putting the game away on the first drive of the fourth period.
Here’s what happened in a nutshell.
THE NEGATIVE
Auburn wore blue, Ole Miss wore white. But the most-important color was yellow.
Ole Miss got flagged ten times in the game. That is really nothing new as the Rebels have committed penalties all season. A close second was special teams. A muffed punt, a botched hold on a field goal attempt and a 10-yard punt did not help the effort.
THE BRIGHT SPOT
Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and RB Quinshon Judkins.
Dart finished 10-17 for 202 yards through the air with one touchdown and ran for 44 yards and two touchdowns. But it was his intangibles that kept the Rebels in the game, as much as his stats, as he showed leadership and a grit-it-out mentality that has to inspire confidence in his teammates.
Here’s that HUGE scramble by Jaxson Dart for 18 yards on 2nd & 15 on the Rebs’ fourth quarter touchdown drive! pic.twitter.com/FeEyyY3sFl
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) October 22, 2023
JAXSON DART ON FOURTH DOWN 😳 pic.twitter.com/txQGwHdIWh
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 22, 2023
Quinshon Judkins just pounded Auburn, finishing with 124 yards on 21 carries. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry and would have had more were it not for some of the aforementioned penalties that called runs back. He ran angry and Auburn’s defense paid the price.
Q Dragging D-Linemen 😳@qaj4_ | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/cYeYFx7zxV
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 22, 2023
THE KEY UNIT
The pass defense. Auburn obviously knew the Rebels were tough as the Tigers only tried 12 passes and most of those were after the game was out of reach.
The Rebels collected two interceptions, courtesy of Zamari Walton and John Saunders, Jr., a pair of pass breakups and three sacks.
End Zone Pick ‼️@ZWALT_21 pic.twitter.com/bOgAgSgGco
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 22, 2023
Can of corn! @john5aunders | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/BfWMlHCGZG
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 22, 2023
THE MOMENTUM SHIFTER
The Rebels’ drive in the latter part of the third quarter was huge. They went 90 yards in 8 plays before scoring on a 1-yard TD run from Dart.
It was the back-to-back completions from Dart to Tre Harris that really got the momentum going for Ole Miss. The first was for 29 yards and the second was 24, and that gave the Rebels first and 10 on the Auburn 30. Dart’s TD broke the 14-14 tie as time expired to go into the 4th quarter.
GOING FORWARD
Ole Miss heads back home, 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, to play Vanderbilt. It is Homecoming in Oxford, but if the Rebels can take care of Vandy, things will get interesting the rest of the way.
Hotty Toddy!
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
