Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss Pull Away From Auburn 45-15

The first touchdown of the afternoon in Oxford was scored by a defensive lineman. By the time the fourth quarter was a few minutes old, Trinidad Chambliss had made sure nobody would remember the game for that alone.

No. 12 Ole Miss beat Auburn 45-15 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, breaking open a two-point game with 28 unanswered points after Auburn pulled within 17-15 late in the third quarter. Chambliss threw for 263 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 65 yards and another score, and the Rebels' defense sacked Byrum Brown four times while holding Auburn to 63 rushing yards.

It was the kind of answer Ole Miss needed after its last outing, a 34-27 loss at Texas in which Chambliss threw three interceptions. He threw one on Saturday. Everything else he touched in the second half turned into points.

A lineman in the end zone

Neither team scored in the first quarter, and for a while it looked like the afternoon might be a grind. Auburn put together a 12-play drive from its own 6 that ended in a Hudson Kaak punt. Ole Miss answered with a 17-play, 89-yard march that ate 6:59 and stretched into the second quarter.

That drive needed help, and it got some. Auburn was flagged for holding on a third-and-7 and for pass interference on a third-and-goal from the 9, both on the same defender, and the Rebels kept the chance alive. On third-and-goal from the 1, Ole Miss handed the ball to defensive lineman Will Echoles, and Echoles pushed in for a 1-yard touchdown with 14:57 left in the half. It was his only carry of the day.

Auburn's response was its best drive of the game. Brown found Chas Nimrod for 24 yards on third-and-13, converted a fourth-and-2 with a 4-yard run, and finished the 14-play, 75-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Nimrod with 7:59 left in the half. Then the extra point went sideways. Ole Miss blocked it, and the Rebels returned it 92 yards to the Auburn 5. No points came of the return, but the score stayed 7-6.

Two turnovers in three snaps

The next two minutes summed up how even the first half was. AnQuon Fegans intercepted Chambliss at the Ole Miss 35 with 7:38 left, handing Auburn a short field and a chance to take the lead. Two snaps later, Brown fumbled. Keaton Thomas forced it, Jamarious Brown recovered it at the Ole Miss 14, and the opportunity was gone.

Ole Miss made Auburn pay. The Rebels drove 86 yards in 14 plays, with Caleb Cunningham catching three passes on the march, and Shekai Mills-Knight scored from a yard out with 2:26 left in the half. Alex McPherson hit a 29-yard field goal with five seconds left, and the teams went to the locker room with Ole Miss up 14-9.

The turning point: a goal-line stand that did not last

The third quarter started with Auburn's defense making its best stand of the day. After an Auburn three-and-out, Ole Miss drove 57 yards in 11 plays, and Chambliss scrambled 15 yards to the 1 on third-and-9. Auburn then stuffed the Rebels on three straight snaps, including a 2-yard loss, and Ole Miss settled for Lucas Carneiro's 20-yard field goal and a 17-9 lead with 9:46 left in the quarter.

Auburn used that momentum. Brown led a 10-play, 67-yard drive, helped by a 15-yard pass interference call and a 15-yard catch by Christian Neptune on third-and-10, and ran in from 7 yards out with 6:20 left in the third. The two-point pass failed, but it was 17-15, and the visitors were very much alive.

That was as close as Auburn got. Ole Miss went 75 yards in eight plays, aided by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Auburn, and Chambliss kept the ball on third-and-1 from the Auburn 26 and ran all the way in with 3:25 left in the third. The score was 24-15, and the game had changed.

The kickoff pinned Auburn at its own 1, and the Tigers had to punt from deep in their own territory. Deuce Alexander muffed the punt, but Ole Miss recovered, and the Rebels opened the fourth quarter with an 11-play, 72-yard drive. Caleb Odom's 34-yard catch set it up, and Chambliss hit Cunningham for a 6-yard touchdown with 12:53 to play.

Auburn went backward on its next series, with Tah'j Butler sacking Brown for a 10-yard loss, and Ole Miss needed just three plays to cover 42 yards. Chambliss finished it with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Horatio Fields with 10:23 left, and it was 38-15.

Auburn's last real chance ended on its next drive. Brown hit DeShawn Spencer for 25 yards on third-and-7 to reach the Ole Miss 37, but Suntarine Perkins sacked him for a 9-yard loss two plays later, and a fourth-and-17 throw fell incomplete. Ole Miss then took 4:21 off the clock with a nine-play, 56-yard drive, and Deuce Knight ran 17 yards for a touchdown on third-and-9 with 3:27 left to make it 45-15. Auburn's next drive, with backup Tristan Ti'a at quarterback, ended when Sam Turner fumbled at the end of a 16-yard catch and Dante Core recovered for Ole Miss at its own 41. Ole Miss turned it over on downs at midfield with 33 seconds left, and Auburn's last possession reached the Ole Miss 15 before time ran out.

By the numbers

The most telling number was on third down. Ole Miss converted 13 of 16 third downs, while Auburn went 7 of 14, and the Rebels outgained the Tigers 487 to 312. Ole Miss also finished with 31 first downs to Auburn's 24 and held the ball for more than half the game.

Chambliss completed 22 of 34 passes for 263 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and added 65 rushing yards on seven carries, including the 26-yard score. Fields caught six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown. Cunningham had six catches for 55 yards and a score, and Alexander caught five passes for 59 yards. The full line is in ESPN's box score (opens in a new tab).

The Ole Miss ground game did steady work. Mills-Knight ran 16 times for 71 yards and a touchdown, and Makhi Frazier carried 17 times for 56 yards. Knight added the late touchdown and finished with 19 yards on three carries. The Rebels finished with 224 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, counting the one by a defensive lineman.

Brown was busy but rarely comfortable. He completed 25 of 38 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown without an interception, but he was sacked four times and finished with 5 rushing yards on 13 carries. Butler and Suntarine Perkins had two sacks each, and Ole Miss recorded 10 tackles for loss. Nimrod led Auburn with four catches for 62 yards and the touchdown, and Neptune caught five passes for 53 yards.

Auburn played without running back Kewan Lacy, who was out with a shoulder injury, and it showed. Jeremiah Cobb led the Tigers with 35 rushing yards, and Auburn managed 63 yards on the ground. Champ Anthony, Bryce Deas and Kaleb Harris each made eight tackles for the Auburn defense, which did not record a sack.

What it means

For Ole Miss, this was a steadying win after the Texas loss and a reminder of what the offense looks like when Chambliss protects the ball. The Rebels moved to 6-2 and 4-2 in the SEC, and the schedule does not get any easier. Georgia comes to Oxford next Saturday, Nov. 7.

For Auburn, the high of beating Georgia earlier this season has given way to back-to-back losses after a 38-17 defeat to LSU. Alex Golesh's first Auburn team fell to 4-4 and 2-4 in the conference. The Tigers had chances on Saturday, with a takeaway in Ole Miss territory and a two-point game late in the third quarter, but the fumble two snaps after the interception and the inability to answer the Chambliss touchdown run decided it. Auburn hosts Arkansas on Nov. 7.

The last word

For most of three quarters, Auburn did what it needed to do against a ranked team on the road. It stopped Ole Miss at the 1, it kept Chambliss from running away with it, and it stayed within a possession. Then Chambliss found a lane on third-and-1, and the rest of the afternoon belonged to the Rebels. The game was decided by how quickly Ole Miss turned a 17-15 scare into a 45-15 finish.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Ole Miss Athletics and Sports Illustrated. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Ole Miss Athletics.