After a disappointing offensive performance in the previous week’s loss to LSU, Auburn was executed well for the most part on that side of the ball out of the gates in its first home game in over a month against Ole Miss.
The scoreboard just didn’t show it.
Auburn had 507 yards but just 20 points as it scraped by the Rebels, 20-14 on Saturday night in front of a Jordan-Hare Stadium crowd that voiced its frustrations with the offense throughout the game.
“We had some opportunities,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “You know, we had a lot of opportunities early. We weren’t able to seize very many of them.”
Auburn crossed midfield into Ole Miss territory on its first four possessions and came away with no points. Sophomore kicker Anders Carlson missed on two field goal attempts from 40-plus yards on the first two drives, then Bo Nix fumbled inside Ole Miss’ 35-yard yard line on the next possession.
For the game, only one of Auburn’s 11 offensive drives ended on its side of the field.
“Well, we won. I think that’s how you assess it,” Malzahn said. “We won the game. I’m proud of the fact we won the game, but we’ve got to clean some things up. The fact that you put up 500 yards against a pretty good defense, especially a good run defense, that’s good. We’ve just got to finish some things and put some points on the board.”
Three different receivers dropped passes from Nix on Auburn’s first three drives, and the quarterback wasn’t fully in sync with his wideouts throughout. He missed overthrew Seth Williams when the receiver had a step on his defender, and he underthrew Sal Cannella when hitting him in stride would have resulted in at least a massive gain, but more likely a score.
But the freshman quarterback still turned in career-highs in completions, attempts and passing yards, finishing 30-for-44 with 340 yards through the air.
“We really had a great night offensively — it’s just the score didn’t necessarily show it,” Nix said. “But there’s a few things we need to correct but I feel confident that we were just in a little bit of a slump at that position of the field.”
Out of the locker room in the second half, Auburn leaned more on lead tailback D.J. Williams to sustain long, methodical drives. Malzahn fed the freshman 11 times over the first two drives of the second half, which resulted in a touchdown and a field goal to put the Tigers up 20-7. After a quiet first half, D.J. Williams touted the rock 19 times in the final two quarters, finishing with 93 yards on the ground.
“He's over there running over everyone,” receiver Anthony Schwartz said of D.J. Williams. “It's just amazing to see.”
Despite a few clutch completions by Nix to his receivers to keep the chains moving and the clock rolling with under five minutes left and Ole Miss within a score, Auburn still couldn’t bury the Rebels when it needed to. Carlson missed again from 49 yards out with 1:14 left on a fourth-and-2. Malzahn said he never considered going for the first down to ice the game.
“Our kicker didn’t make it but I’ve got a lot of confidence in him and I’ll do the same thing again,” Malzahn said. “We’re trying to win the game. I don’t have a problem with that at all.”
With Playoff-contending rivals Georgia and Alabama on the horizon, Auburn now enters its second bye week of the season hoping to keep the yardage up and erase the self-inflicted wounds.
“Just finish,” said left tackle Prince Tega Wanogho. “We're going to concentrate on that. Just try to finish.”
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