Way-Too-Early Staff Predictions: Ole Miss vs. Auburn
There's something about Auburn and Ole Miss. Thanks to a loss in 2021, the Tigers very well could be to blame for three SEC programs making the College Football Playoffs, right?
Ole Miss enters Week 7 feeling high after likely taking care of business against Vanderbilt in Nashville. Meanwhile, the Tigers will be coming off a road trip to Athens against the defending champs in Georgia.
Advantage: Ole Miss, right?
For Auburn, everything is under the microscope. Boosters and the athletic department are monitoring the success of second-year coach Bryan Harsin after a down 6-7 season. Any bit of regression would give viable cause for the Tigers to move on from Harsin and begin fresh once more.
Harsin's biggest win during his first season on The Plains was against the Rebels. The Tigers won in nearly every category, limiting their turnovers and trusting the trio of Bo Nix, Jarquez Hunter and Tank Bigsby to carry the load. Nix is gone, but Hunter and Bigsby are back looking for trouble.
Will there be trouble brewing in Oxford?
Make sure to stick with TheGroveReport.com through our season preview series, where we will analyze every opponent on the Rebels' schedule in 2022. Check out our series preview, as well as offensive and defensive to watch.
Now, onto our staff's predictions
Cole Thompson
There's always one team that causes trouble for certain programs. That's the deal with Ole Miss and Auburn. New coach, new quarterback, same loss comes each season, right?
The good news for the Rebels is former Texas A&M quarterback Zach Calzada will likely be the starter. Last season in Oxford, Calzada tossed a pair of interceptions, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter. Some things never change, but Ole Miss' luck does with Calzada at QB for Auburn.
Ole Miss 31, Auburn 20
Ben King
Ole Miss welcomes the Auburn Tigers to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Week 7, a team the Rebels haven’t beaten since 2015. Ole Miss will end the losing streak in 2022 thanks to big performances from running backs Zach Evans and Ulysses Bentley IV.
Ole Miss defensive lineman/tight end JJ Pegues will also catch a touchdown against his former team. The Tigers keep it close in the first half, but the Ole Miss rushing attack will eventually wear down the Auburn defense.
Ole Miss 31, Auburn 17
Brian Smith
Auburn has been a difficult program to understand since Brian Harsin took control of the program. Boosters and fans are unhappy with him, and the roster lost several key players including leading wide receiver Kobe Hudson to the transfer portal and UCF.
Can Auburn rebound? By Week 7, there better be definitive progress for Harsin, or that coaching staff will be canned at some point during or shortly after the regular season. Losing big on the road to Ole Miss will not help matters, but by this juncture of the season, Auburn might already be falling apart.
Ole Miss 38 Auburn 24
Matt Galatzan
Auburn is an absolute mess right now and the Rebels are in great position to take advantage. The think Ole Miss rolls over the Tigers, and wins big.
I also think that Zach Evans will use this game to establish himself as one of the SEC’s top running backs.
Ole Miss 37, Auburn 17
John Macon Gillespie
Everything that's going on behind the scenes on The Plains seems to be cause for concern this preseason. I lean towards that trouble boiling over in the middle of the year, and Ole Miss will take advantage.
Ole Miss 38, Auburn 21
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