AUBURN | Auburn’s defense showed it could dominate even without two of its best players.

With leading tackler Jeremiah Dinson sidelined with an illness and sack leader Marlon Davidson out with lower back tightness, the Tigers held Ole Miss to 266 total yards in a 20-14 win Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“We had to rally,” said nickel Christian Tutt, whose interception and 57-yard return ended the game. “Losing two key leaders, two quarterbacks of the defense, meant a lot. We had to rally together and play for one another and came out with the W.”

True freshman Derick Hall started his first career game in place of Davidson at defensive end, finishing with two tackles and a quarterback hurry. Sophomore Jamien Sherwood started for the second time in his career filling in for Dinson at safety. He had six tackles and one tackle-for-loss.

“We didn’t play with Marlon and Dinson, two of our better players, and we had some guys step up and just do an excellent job,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.

One of the keys to slowing down Ole Miss was to contain dual-threat quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. The true freshman ended up running for 92 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, but he completed just 11 of 21 passes for 86 yards with an interception.

“I was happy with defense all game,” Malzahn said. “That quarterback is a dynamic guy, now. He’s not just a good guy, he’s a dynamic runner. He’s real explosive and, of course, they’ve got those running backs. Very explosive. Our defense, we played a lot of young guys, now. We were rotating guys and it was good for them to step up and feel what it feels like. I’m real proud of our team that they were able to get a victory tonight.”

In addition to Hall and Sherwood, a number of other underclassmen logged extensive minutes including Owen Pappoe, Zakoby McClain, Coynis Miller, Jaren Handy and Smoke Monday.

Ole Miss was averaging 471.4 yards over its last seven games including 476 at Alabama. The Rebels averaged just 3.9 yards per play against AU and were 3 of 15 on third downs. Their best drive of the game, a 91-yarder on 15 plays in the fourth quarter was assisted by two AU personal foul penalties and two fourth down conversions.

“To be honest with ourselves, I don't think we played too well tonight,” said Derrick Brown, who had one of the personal foul penalties. “We need to get back in. We had a tough loss last week, and I think it kind of carried over to this week. I think we need to get back in the film room, be able to work during this off week and prepare for Georgia coming up next. And just get ready to play SEC football.”

Brown tied for the team lead with seven tackles and added one tackle-for-loss. Daniel Thomas also had seven tackles and K.J. Britt added six tackles, 0.5 tackles-for-loss and one pass breakup.

Davidson’s injury ended his 47-game consecutive starting streak. He leads the team with 9.0 tackles-for-loss and 5.5 sacks. Dinson has a team-high 61 tackles.

Auburn will have two weeks to prepare before hosting No. 8 Georgia Nov. 16.