Fresh off a heartbreaking loss last Saturday, the 12th-ranked Ole Miss Rebels return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for an old-school rivalry game against the Auburn Tigers on Saturday morning. The rivalry dates back to pre-Southeastern Conference days, to the first meeting in Birmingham in 1928. Auburn leads the overall series 35-13, with the most recent meeting in 2023 in Auburn. Ole Miss enters the game on Saturday with a two-game winning streak over the Tigers.
Both Auburn and 12th-ranked Ole Miss enter Saturday looking to avenge last weekend’s losses: Auburn was dismantled at home by 17th-ranked LSU, and Ole Miss lost 34-27 to 18th-ranked Texas in Austin. Auburn brings a 4-3 and 2-3 conference record to Oxford, while Ole Miss comes into the game clinging to College Football Playoff hopes with a 5-2 overall record and 3-2 in SEC play.
Starting on the Auburn side, Auburn beat the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs two weeks in Athens and proved this team might lack depth, but the potential is there under first-year Head Coach Alex Golesh to return the Tigers to being competitive in the Southeastern Conference. One of the biggest questions heading into the matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday is whether Auburn can do what they did at Georgia and shock the Rebels, or if they’ll retreat into their shell and repeat the LSU game. This Auburn team has been difficult to read this season; they’ve beaten Baylor, Southern Miss, Vanderbilt, and then Georgia. Then they have lost to Tennessee, Florida, and LSU, with LSU being the only game where Auburn was truly outmanned and outcoached. Auburn will face an Ole Miss team without Kewan Lacy, but in the same sense, it is an Ole Miss team with its back against the wall, needing to win out to return to the College Football Playoffs. Auburn’s dual-threat Byrum Brown will have to be the difference-maker for the Tigers to have a chance on Saturday; as Ole Miss scores, it’ll be up to Auburn to keep up.
As for Ole Miss, the Rebels will once again be without Kewan Lacy, who’s out for the Auburn game with a dislocated shoulder. With that said, Ole Miss needs Trinidad Chambliss to get back to being Trinidad Chambliss. Chambliss had an off game by his standards on Saturday night against Texas, but he still kept Ole Miss within a touchdown of sending it to overtime. This season, Trinidad Chambliss has 1,926 yards, 16 touchdowns, six touchdowns on the ground, and only seven interceptions. Elsewhere on offense, Deuce Aleander has emerged as the Rebels’ wide receiver leader this season with 610 yards and five touchdowns. Caleb Odom is next with 326 yards and two touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, the Rebels have had a defensive line beast in Kam Franklin, Will Echoles, Suntarine Perkins, and Blake Purchase, who have been menaces so far this season.
As we’ve seen this season, anything can happen. Auburn has a win over Georgia, but the Rebels have their backs against the wall as they have to win out to reach the College Football Playoff, and they enter the Auburn game as a double-digit favorite. With that in mind, Ole Miss has the advantage; if they can come out and play Rebels football, they’ll likely clinch postseason eligibility.
#12-ranked Ole Miss and Auburn will get underway on the SEC Network at 11:45 in the morning.
Photo Credits- Ole Miss football on X
