Anything Can Happen When Ole Miss Plays Auburn

Ole Miss Rebels vs. Auburn Tigers

Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 11:00 am
Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama
TV: ESPN

Ole Miss football is a tough thing to write about ahead of time.

College football, generally, is an unpredictable sport. With so few games, each becomes hugely important, and a team’s whole season can be drastically altered in just a few seconds. That’s part of what makes it fun.

But as an Ole Miss fan, you start to feel that an inordinate number of these alterations have befallen you over the years. Take 2003, “the Eli year,” when the Rebs lost the SEC West vs. LSU in every heartbreaking way imaginable. Missed field goals from perhaps the nation’s best kicker? Yep.

Controversial out-of-bounds spots? Check. Eli Manning getting tripped up by his own center on the game’s last-gasp play? Sure, why not. The unpredictable had become commonplace.

Or, take last year’s game vs. Auburn—this week’s opponent. One second, the Rebels are pulling away with a late lead in a top-5 SEC West matchup. The next, Treadwell’s gone for the year, the touchdown’s called back, and it’s Auburn ball. It was beyond unpredictable—it was poignantly unlucky. 

And just remember—the 2003 LSU would have meant nothing without a dropped pass in the end zone earlier that fall by Auburn’s Ben Obomanu vs. Ole Miss. It seems that the 2003 Auburn Tigers could have used some luck of their own that night.

This could also be said for this year’s Auburn squad. It seems the well of good fortune has temporarily run dry for Gus Malzahn and company; a preseason top-10 team across the board, Auburn was supposed to contend for the SEC title this year, not hang out in its cellar. Star returning players at defensive line and receiver? A QB, by all accounts, better than Nick Marshall? Will Muschamp coming back on board to overhaul the defense? How could it fail?

Fast forward eight weeks, and Auburn’s recovering from a 4-OT loss to an Arkansas team with a losing record. The Tigers sit at 4-3, their only conference win a 3-point victory over Kentucky. Star WR D’Haquille Williams punched some people at a bar, and he’s no longer in school. Star defensive lineman Carl Lawson probably won’t play Saturday, still recovering from an injury in week one. They nearly lost to Jacksonville State. They’re not doing that great.