Down 21-0 early in the second quarter, Auburn could have given up. It would have been easy to do, considering a 3-3 record, coming off a blowout loss to Georgia a week earlier and the controversy surrounding Bryan Harsin and his dream job.
Robby Ashford, substituted for by T.J. Finley after three possessions that went nowhere, including getting intercepted after overthrowing Tank Bigsby on a screen pass, could have thrown in the towel. Understandably frustrated with how things were going, television cameras caught the Auburn quarterback slamming down the telephone.
Everything went against the Tigers as the No. 9 Rebels were on their way to a sizable win.
We might never know what went on on the sidelines after Ole Miss’ third touchdown of the game, but a new Auburn team came out with a bit of fire in them. An Ashford two-yard run capped off a nine-play drive that went 75 yards. Five minutes later, Bigsby finished a 76-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run.
Auburn was back from the dead. An Ole Miss touchdown made it 28-14 with 2:52 to go before halftime, and it seemed that the Rebels would get another shot at making it a larger deficit for the Tigers when taking the ball over with 1:21 left. Jaxson Dart hit Jonathan Mingo in the hands, but the receiver bobbled it, the ball got tipped around, and Keionte Scott finally came up with the interception. It resulted in an Anders Carlson field goal as the clock ran down to cut the deficit to 11.
Three plays into the third quarter, Bigsby struck again with a 50-yard touchdown run. What once seemed like a blowout was now a game. The Rebels respond with a touchdown? Auburn answers right back as Ashford takes it in from 11 yards out.
Sure, the result was still a loss, but instead of caving in, the Tigers fought back, refusing to roll over. When many fans probably switched the channel or spent Saturday doing things other than tuning into a game where the Tigers were underdogs by two touchdowns, these players gave it their all. There have been so many people who I would consider die-hard Auburn fans who have opted out of the season or who have lost all emotional investment until a change is made.
Luckily, the players don’t feel the same. While it’s still apparent that something, anything, needs to happen with this coaching staff – they were, again, totally outmatched against Lane Kiffin and his staff –one admirable thing was those wearing the Auburn across their uniform chests played all out for every teammate sporting the same thing.
We can talk all we want about talent, recruiting (or lack of), adjustments, and coaching and knock it as much as possible. That’s fair game, but what we can’t question is the heart of this team. With everything going against them and going wrong in Oxford, they made sure that the word embarrassment would not be used.
And honestly, that is a sad way to look at this program, a proud program, right now. Yet, that is what it has become. We aren’t celebrating a moral victory, but when things are going as bad as they are, sometimes you have to look at the few positives and run with it.
What happens next? We shall see. Bryan Harsin very well might be out the door in the next 24 hours. On the other hand, he might survive after keeping it close. No one knows except those who call the shots.
But credit those who fought for the Auburn name and brand on Saturday. Lesser teams wouldn’t have done so.
