Ole Miss Football: 3 takeaways from tough loss to Auburn in Week 8

Ole Miss football lost another tough game, this time at the hands of Auburn on Saturday. What did we learn from the Rebels’ fourth loss?

Lane Kiffin was just trying to bounce back from a rough loss to Arkansas a week ago, but Ole Miss lost thanks to an Auburn touchdown in the final two minutes as well as a two-point conversion which made it 35-28.

Ole Miss had a one-point lead heading into the final couple of minutes but the Tigers and Bo Nix marched 83 yards down the field to score a touchdown in seemingly no time. The defense for Ole Miss has been awful this season and that continued on Saturday, especially in that late touchdown drive which was the difference.

The Rebels gave up over 450 yards of total offense to a team that had been struggling on that side of the ball this season.

This tough loss dropped the Rebels to 1-4 on the year and Auburn improved to 3-2.

What did we learn from Saturday’s SEC showdown in Oxford?

3. Run game can be special

While we all talk about Matt Corral’s rise to stardom (outside of the past two games), Ole Miss has a solid run game that we seem to be overlooking.

The Rebels have two very good running backs in Snoop Conner and Jerrion Ealy who provide a heck of a one-two punch and they finished with 149 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries against a tough Auburn defense. Add in the fact that Corral can run and also backup quarterback John Rhys Plumlee and Ole Miss has one of the best rushing attacks in the conference.

Ole Miss finished with 283 yards and three touchdowns on 51 carries as three guys finished with at least 70 rushing yards, led by Corral.

If Ole Miss can continue to hit the ground when it’s working, it’s going to surprise some teams in the second half of the season.