Auburn continues to control its own destiny. The storyline all week was on Ole Miss' prolific offense that could not be stopped, led by Heisman front-runner Matt Corral.
The Lane Train was stopped on Saturday, being held to 20 points as Auburn notched a 31-20 upset win over No. 10 Ole Miss.
It wasn't perfect, but adjustments were made and big plays helped lead Auburn to win.
Handing out the grades from Saturday:
Quarterback: A-
Bo Nix has been a different quarterback since the Georgia State game. Against LSU he brought his heroics. He played solid against Georgia and could've been a lot better if his receivers helped him out. Arkansas was the best road game of his career.
He kept rolling against Ole Miss.
He had some mistakes, yes. A few times where he didn't set his feet and it cost him.
But overall, it was another strong performance for Auburn's quarterback as he plays some of the best football of his career.
Nix finished the day 22-of-30 with 276 yards and a touchdown along with two rushing touchdowns.
Running Backs: B+
The Auburn rushing attack has been dormant for a few weeks. Tank Bigbsy chained that on Saturday.
Bigsby was a man on a mission, carrying it 23 times for 140 yards and a touchdown. It was the Bigbsy that Auburn fans saw earlier in the season and are accustomed to. Making big plays, breaking tackles and doing what it takes for the first down.
On the other hand, freshman Jarquez Hunter was less than stellar. He's been in a bit of a lull recently and hasn't been able to provide quite the spark off the bench that he did earlier in the season. Hunter did catch one pass for nine yards and a touchdown, though.
Hunter and Bigbsy each dropped a pass, which dings the grade slightly.
Wide Receivers: B
Auburn's receivers continue to slowly get better and better each week.
Kobe Hudson has established himself as the top receiver on the team and that continued on Saturday as he finished with six receptions for 79 yards.
Outside of Hudson, it was relatively quiet with both Shedrick Jackson and Demetris Robertson hauling in three passes apiece and no one else with more than one.
The group is still a major work in progress, but the improvement is visible.
Tight Ends: B
Three different Auburn tight ends got involved in the action on Saturday.
Luke Deal caught both his targets for 18 yards, Tyler Fromm had a 31-yard catch and John Samuel Shenker was abnormally quiet with just one catch for five yards.
It wasn't the biggest game out of the tight ends, but it was solid. The blocking was pretty good and the group caught passes when they were sent their way.
Offensive Line: B-
This one teetered between a C+ and a B-, but I ended up going B-.
The run blocking was improved. I've been critical of that, and it did appear to be a little better on Saturday.
Pass pro wasn't perfect, with Bo Nix getting sacked twice, but for the most part, it was decent enough to give Nix time in the pocket.
Brodarious Hamm was the one that struggled and nearly put the grade at a C+ for me. On one of the plays where Nix got sacked, Hamm got blown by from an Ole Miss defender and got to Nix quickly. Hamm had another opportunity to block someone, but had given up on the play after getting beat and it led to another player getting after Nix.
This late into the season I wouldn't expect Auburn to experiment, but moving Kilian Zierer to right tackle and having Austin Troxell at left tackle feels like it could be a stronger combination along the offensive line.
Defensive Line: B
The stat sheet might not show it, but Colby Wooden continued to play really, really strong against Ole Miss. Wooden had five tackles and a quarterback hurry but earned a 79.8 from PFF.
Marcus Harris was the other standout along the defensive line, grading out with a 69.9. He had one tackle — which was for loss — and two quarterback hurries.
The rest of the defensive line wasn't anything crazy, but they played good enough. They mostly contained the Ole Miss rushing attack and got pressure on Matt Corral.
Linebackers: B+
Zakoby McClain continues to be a menace on defense. He finished the game with 14 tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss. He's all over the field and a crucial part of this team.
While Owen Pappoe graded out at a poor 34.3, I didn't think his performance was that bad and some rustiness was to be expected. He still finished with five tackles and a tackle for loss.
His return also allowed Chandler Wooten to move back to the third linebacker role and play less snaps per game. Wooten hasn't been bad, but he's better playing in more of a reserve role.
Secondary: A-
Because of what I would consider to be stellar play out of Roger McCreary last night, I bumped the secondary grade into the A-range. McCreary graded out with a 71.0, but I thought he was really, really strong. He finished the game with five tackles and two pass breakups. It was a future NFL quarterback against a future NFL corner and McCreary came out on top a couple of times.
And of course the big interception from Jaylin Simpson was huge for Auburn. Ole Miss was knocking on the door with a chance to get back in the game and Simpson picked off Corral in the end zone to help secure the game for Auburn.
For how prolific of a passer Corral is, Auburn held him without a passing touchdown and did a good job of containing him.
Special Teams: D-
The special teams' performance was one of the only big negatives yesterday. Auburn got flagged several times on kickoff returns and that negated big returns.
Demetris Robertson muffed a punt and Ole Miss jumped on it. That was a disaster.
Anders Carlson doinked a 43-yard field goal, but did connect on a 28-yard attempt.
The only thing that saved this grade from an F was punter Oscar Chapman. He had an average of 56 yards over his three punts. He's quietly been very good for Auburn this year.
