OXFORD, Miss. – Bo Nix hit Seth Williams for a 58-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 to play to give Auburn a 35-28 come-from-behind win Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
"Really proud of our team," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "It was a total team effort. We played good, hard-nosed Auburn football, running the football, stopping the run, picking each other up. Our guys really played 60 minutes today, overcame some adversity."
Trailing by one point, Auburn (3-2) drove 80 yards on six plays, the Tigers' fifth long scoring drive of the game. Nix and Williams connected again for a two-point conversion pass that gave Auburn a seven-point lead.
"You've got to make a play," Malzahn said. "The offense executed when they had to. Bo was 3 of 4 for 82 yards on that last drive. He was on target."
Ole Miss (1-4) drove to Auburn's 29 with 3 seconds remaining, but Jordyn Peters made an interception on the game's final play on which Ole Miss was penalized for passing beyond the line of scrimmage.
Early In the third quarter Roger McCreary tackled Ole Miss kicker Luke Logan for a 4-yard-loss on a fake field goal after a special teams miscue had given the Rebels a short field.
After an Auburn punt, Ole Miss drove 89 yards on three plays, scoring on Matt Corral's 10-yard run to lead 21-14 at the 7:09 mark of the third quarter.
Auburn answered with a 10-play, 88-yard game-tying drive. Tank Bigsby ran for 19 yards on third-and-2, then Nix rolled right and threw high down the middle to Seth Williams, who hauled in the pass at the Ole Miss 1-yard line. Shaun Shivers scored on the next play for a 21-21 tie with 2:57 to play in the third quarter.
The Tigers' defense delivered a key stop when Smoke Monday sacked Corral on third-and-5 to force an Ole Miss punt.
The Tigers then drove 80 yards on 11 plays to take the lead. Nix twice completed passes on third downs, first to Williams, then to John Samuel Shenker. Bigby stiff-armed a defender on an 18-yard touchdown run.
On the PAT attempt, Auburn was unable to cleanly convert the snap and hold, resulting in a 27-21 lead.
Bigsby recorded his third consecutive 100-yard game, rushing for 129 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns.
Ole Miss drove for a touchdown to take a 28-27 lead with 5:43 to play, then forced a three-and-out from Auburn's offense. The Tigers defense responded with its own three-and-out to give the offense one more opportunity, setting the stage for the most recent Bo-to-Seth game-winner.
"Our defense stopped them when they had to," Malzahn said. "It was a perfectly executed play on that back shoulder. Seth made a really good move and Eli got a block and he went house call with it."
Nix completed 23 of 30 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown, adding 52 rushing yards on 10 carries and a TD. Williams led Auburn's receiving corps with eight catches for 150 yards and the game-winning touchdown, his fifth career 100-yard game. Anthony Schwartz added seven receptions.
Owen Pappoe led Auburn's defensive with 14 tackles. Smoke Monday made a career-high 12, including a sack, while Jamien Sherwood added 11.
Gallery: (10-24-2020) Auburn 35, Ole Miss 28
Two touchdown drives by each team led to a 14-14 halftime tie. After both teams went three-and-out on their opening possessions, the Rebels drove to Auburn's 4-yard line before McCreary ended the threat with his second end zone interception of the season.
The Tigers then drove 95 yards on 14 plays with Bigsby capping the drive with a 4-yard touchdown to give Auburn a 7-0 lead.
The Rebels answered with 75-yard drive to tie it at 7-7 on Corral's 6-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore with 13:46 remaining in the half.
Auburn responded with a 10-play, 79-yard scoring drive. Shaun Shivers crossed midfield with runs of 14 and 12 yards. On third-and-4, Nix hit Williams on a slant, with Williams hurdling an Ole Miss defender to gain 21 yards.
Nix scored on a 4-yard touchdown run to give Auburn a 14-7 at the 9:11 mark of the second quarter.
The Rebels then drove 78 yards on 16 plays, converting on fourth-and-5 before scoring on Corral's quarterback run for a 14-14 tie with 3:35 left in the half.
After back-to-back road games, the Tigers return to Jordan-Hare Stadium next Saturday vs. LSU at 2:30 p.m. CT.
"It went down to the very end," Malzahn said. "That's just the way this year is going. We had an extremely tough week last week and our guys held it together. They fought. This will be some good momentum for us moving forward."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
POSTGAME NOTES
- Captains: K.J. Britt, Big Kat Bryant, Bo Nix, Shaun Shivers
- Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and defers. Ole Miss will receive
TEAM NOTES
- First-time starters for Auburn: none
- Auburn has scored in 98 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history
- Auburn scored first in the game for the 35th time in its last 49 games
- Auburn has now won five consecutive games against Ole Miss, the third-longest win streak in the series
- Auburn has a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver in the same game for the second time this season (Bigsby/146 and Schwartz/100 vs. Arkansas)
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE
- Tank Bigsby scores his second and third rushing touchdowns of the season
- Bigsby rushes for more than 100 yards for the third consecutive game (Arkansas 146, South Carolina 111, Ole Miss 129). He's the first Auburn player to do so since Kerryon Johnson in 2017. Bigsby is the first Auburn freshman with three 100-yard rushing games since JaTarvious Whitlow in 2018, and only the third Auburn freshman ever with three 100-yard rushing games against SEC competition; others were Bo Jackson (1982) and Michael Dyer (2010)
- Bigsby is now 16th among Auburn freshman rushers all-time with 432 yards, passing Bo Nix (313 in 2019), Secdrick McIntyre (315 in 1973), Kam Martin (320 in 2016), Kiehl Frazier (327 in 2011), Ronnie Brown (330 in 2001), Brad Lester (339 in 2005), Markeith Cooper (351 in 1996), Shaun Shivers (371 in 2018), Darrell Williams (371 in 1989), Ben Tate (392 in 2006), D.J. Williams (400 in 2019)
- Recording his fifth career 100-yard receiving game, Seth Williams now has 1,788 career receiving yards, ranking 10th among Auburn career leaders, passing Sammie Coates (1,757 from 2012-14)
- Williams ranks 10th all-time in career receptions with 109, passing Greg Taylor (102 from 1987-90) and Eli Stove (108 from 2016-20)
- Williams is tied for fifth in career receiving touchdowns scored with 16, passing Frank Sanders (15 from 1991-94), Byron Franklin (15 from 1977-80) and tied with Emory Blake (16 from 2009-12)
- With 108 career catches, Eli Stove ranks 11th among Auburn's career leaders
- Bo Nix scores his second rushing touchdown of the season; it's the ninth TD rush of his career
- Shaun Shivers scores his first rushing touchdown of the season and the eighth of his career
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE
- Roger McCreary records his second interception of the season and third of his career
- Owen Pappoe becomes the second Auburn player this season to record double-figure tackles in three consecutive games (10 Arkansas, 10 South Carolina, 14 Ole Miss); Zakoby McClain did it earlier this season
- Jamien Sherwood has passed the 100-tackle mark for his career; he now has 107
- Christian Tutt records a career-best 8 tackles
- Smoke Monday records his first sack of the season and fifth of his career; Monday records a career-best 12 tackles
- Jordyn Peters records his first career interception
INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS
- Anders Carlson is now 10th in career scoring at Auburn with 225 points; next is Win Lyle (230 from 1987-89)
- Carlson is now 7th in career PAT made at Auburn with 102; next is Al Del Greco (110 from 1980-83) in 6th place