AUBURN, Ala. – Jarquez Hunter scored two touchdowns and Auburn stopped No. 13 Ole Miss on eight consecutive possessions before the Rebels pulled away late to beat the Tigers 28-21 Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"Disappointing. Our kids played hard," Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said. "We've got to coach them better and it starts with me. What a great crowd we had; it was an incredible night. We had our chances. Defense got some stops against a very explosive offense. Offensively, we kept shooting ourselves in the foot, and they made plays too."
After shutting out the Rebels during a 30-minute stretch in the second and third quarters, Ole Miss broke a 14-14 tie by driving 90 yards and scoring on Jaxson Dart's 1-yard quarterback run on the final play of the third quarter.
Ole Miss added another touchdown on Quinshon's Judkins' 4-yard run midway through the fourth quarter to lead 28-14.
Auburn made it a one-score game in the final minute on Payton Thorne's 8-yard touchdown pass to Rivaldo Fairweather but Ole Miss recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.
After Ole Miss stopped Auburn on fourth down on the game's opening possession, the Rebels scored on their first possession to lead 7-0 before the Tigers answered with a 75-yard touchdown drive.
Hunter started running to his right then cut up the middle on a 53-yard game-tying score with 2:59 to play in the first quarter, Hunter's longest run of the season.
The Rebels responded with their own 75-yard scoring drive, taking a 14-7 lead on Dart's 29-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Donovan Kaufman intercepted a pass that deflected off an Ole Miss receiver and returned it 41 yards to the Rebels' 24-yard line.
On third-and-2 from the 16, Robby Ashford ran 15 yards to the 1. From there, Hunter fielded the Wildcat snap and scored his second touchdown of the game, tying the score at 14-14 at the 11:44 mark of the second quarter.
"The offensive line did a great job of executing, moving guys out of the way and I stayed patient and hit the hole," said Hunter, who led Auburn with 91 yards rushing on 15 carries and 54 yards receiving on three catches.
Auburn preserved the tie when Zion Puckett intercepted a pass by the Rebels' holder after a bobbled snap on a field goal attempt in the second quarter.
Larry Nixon III led Auburn with eight tackles. Marcus Harris added a career-high seven tackles including 1.5 sacks to give him four sacks for the season.
"We knew they were going to be a fast-tempo team and we wanted to stay calm and poised under pressure and I feel like we did that during that stretch," said Harris of Auburn's defense in the middle quarters. "Seeing the ball and getting to the ball. I'll try to keep that going next game and end up with a win."
Auburn (3-4, 0-4) hosts Mississippi State next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
"The message was let's come back to work Monday," Freeze said. "We've got a lot of SEC games left. I'm excited for this team to continue to fight and battle. We'll come back next week excited to be back in Jordan-Hare and have another opportunity."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
Postgame Notes>> Captains: Luke Deal, Elijah McAllister, Kam Stutts, Payton Thorne
>> Coin Toss: Auburn wins the toss and will receive
>> Eagle Flight: Aurea from Section 12
>> Attendance: 88,043 (capacity)
TEAM NOTES
>> First-time starters for Auburn: Brandon Frazier, Jeremiah Cobb, Justin Rogers
>> Auburn has scored in 136 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: OFFENSE
>> Jarquez Hunter scored his fourth and fifth rushing TDs of the season, giving him 15 for his career. The 53-yard touchdown run was Hunter's longest run of the season. This is Hunter's second career game with multiple rushing TDs scored.
>> Jarquez Hunter is now 29th among Auburn career rushers with 1,572 yards, passing Tommy Lorino (1,486 in 1956-58), Kamryn Pettway (1,529 in 2015-17), Terry Henley (1,534 from 1970-72), JaTarvious Whitlow (1,550 from 2018-19, Kam Martin (1,564 from 2016-19) and Rudi Johnson (1,567 in 2000); next up is Curtis Kuykendall (1,619 from 1944-45).
>> Rivaldo Fairweather scored his second touchdown of the season on a pass from Payton Thorne; it was Thorne's fifth TD pass of the season
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: DEFENSE
>> Donovan Kaufman's interception is the second of his Auburn career and Kaufman's first this season.
>> Zion Puckett's interception was the first of his Auburn career.
>> Marcus Harris now has 4.0 sacks for the season; his 7 tackles tied a career high.
>> Eugene Asante now has 3.5 sacks for the season.
>> Jalen McLeod now has 1.5 sacks for the season .
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: SPECIAL TEAMS
>> Oscar Chapman now has 34 punts of 50+ yards during his career.