AUBURN - Auburn’s football team, beaten and battered for the past three weeks, had an answer for its critics Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
A team all but given up for dead declared itself very much alive.
In the midst of a three-game losing streak, Auburn players insisted week after week that this was not like last season, when a preseason top 10 team came apart inside and out. They still believed, they said, in themselves and in their coaches.
And they proved it Saturday.
The Gus Malzahn offense we saw the first five games returned. The Chris Todd we saw at quarterback the first five games returned. And the defense, limited though it is, played its best game of the season.
And in the end, the Tigers sang in the locker room for the first time since Oct. 3.
Saturday’s 33-20 win over No. 22 Ole Miss would have been expected most seasons. Historically, Ole Miss rarely beats Auburn anywhere, much less at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
But Ole Miss was on a roll, fresh off a 30-17 dismantling of Arkansas. Auburn was anything but on a roll, smarting from its third straight loss, a lopsided 31-10 knockout at LSU.
You’d have probably found more people who expected Auburn to be blown out than expected Auburn to win. And when Ole Miss romped 94 yards after opening kickoff to take a 7-0 lead, it appeared that’s what was about to happen.
It didn’t.
Auburn, as it so often did in going 5-0, went on a scoring frenzy in the third quarter, turning a 10-7 halftime lead into a 31-7 lead. It seemed it was about to be a blowout, all right, but not the blowout most expected.
Ole Miss wouldn’t go that quietly. A touchdown kickoff return and a 79-yard run by Dexter McCluster made it 33-20. Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said he thought his team was going to win 34-33.
Auburn’s defense thought differently, turning back every Rebel threat. Finally, as the crowd roared, Chris Todd knelt down with the ball and the game was over.
The Tigers should finish no worse than 7-5 now, assuming a victory over Division I-AA Furman next Saturday at homecoming. They’ll go to a decent bowl. And who knows? They might win more than that.
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