Ole Miss Rebels vs. Auburn Tigers Game Predictions

On paper, No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels are the better team entering this weekend's matchup with the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. But games aren't played on paper.

Historically, Ole Miss has struggled when playing on The Plains, only winning in Auburn, Ala., three times in series history with the most recent coming in 2015. Granted, some of these games were played at neutral sites early in the history of this rivalry, but still--the Rebels typically struggle on the road against the Tigers.

Throw in the fact that former Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze is now the Tigers' head coach, and you've got all the makings of an interesting showdown on Saturday night. Here are The Grove Report's staff predictions for this SEC West matchup.

Cole Thompson, Staff Writer

Lane Kiffin should immediately be fired if he walks out of Jordan-Hare Stadium with a loss. No questions asked; this must happen. How dare he take the hard-earned cash of boosters across the prosperous state of Mississippi only to lose to the former Rebels head coach. And how dare those in charge of writing checks offer a $9 million salary to a coach who's only finished with 10 wins during the regular season once in three years.

How dare this school. Ole Miss, a program that never finished with double-digit regular season wins before Kiffin arrived, deserves better than this. The program that still remains in the hunt for an SEC West title -- win or lose -- should expect more from a coach who's changed the Rebels' outlook for the better since arriving in 2020. This is Ole Miss, for Hotty Toddy's sake. Auburn is a joke for even wanting Kiffin after Bryan Harisn won. Do you see how stupid that sounds when you say it out loud? Good, man. Rebels by two scores.

Ole Miss 38, Auburn 20

Ben King, Staff Writer

The Rebels are favored entering their Week 8 road trip versus Auburn, but this will not be a game that Ole Miss will just cruise through. The Tigers are starved for their first SEC victory of the season, and Hugh Freeze certainly has extra motivation to pull off an upset against his former team. Additionally, Ole Miss has not historically played great at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Since 2000, the Rebels have only won twice on Auburn's home turf.

Ironically, the last time Ole Miss was victorious on The Plains, Freeze was the coach of the Rebels. This will be a battle, but I am expecting Ole Miss to come out on top thanks to another stellar performance from Jaxson Dart, who will benefit greatly from a rested offense coming off a bye week.

Ole Miss 35, Auburn 24

John Macon Gillespie, Publisher

Ole Miss doesn't do well at Auburn, especially in night games. Hugh Freeze is going to place a lot of importance on this one, and he will probably pull out all of the stops to pull off the upset.

Now that that's all out of the way, the Rebels are the better team, and I think they win. It may be somewhat-close for a while due to the home field advantage on The Plains, but Ole Miss takes care of business.

Ole Miss 35, Auburn 17