Ole Miss beat Auburn 45-15 on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway. The Rebels are 6-2, 4-2 in the SEC, and ranked 12th.
The headline number is that Ole Miss scored the final 28 points of the game. The stranger numbers are underneath it.
13 of 16 on third down
That is the number of the game, and Pete Golding could not remember it at the podium.
“I don’t know what they ended up being on third down, but it was impressive,” he said in his opening comment, and then came back to “the efficiency on offense was incredible” twice more without ever being given the figure.
It was 13 of 16. Eighty-one percent. An offense that converted four of every five third downs it faced, in a game it led wire to wire after the first quarter.
The opening drive set the tone and then some: 89 yards in 17 plays, chewing most of seven minutes. Ole Miss outgained Auburn 487 to 312 and held the Tigers to 63 rushing yards.
Will Echoles scored a touchdown
On the first play of the second quarter, a 315-pound defensive tackle took a handoff and went in from a yard out to put Ole Miss up 7-0.
Trinidad Chambliss admitted afterward that he had been worrying about the exchange all week.
“I was kind of nervous with the exchange, ’cause you never know how it’s really gonna go in a game because the big guys don’t really touch the ball that often, especially Will being a defensive lineman… We got Big Will in there finally. They did their little dance again.”
Keaton Thomas was asked to rate him as a running back and compared him to Jerome Bettis: “A mauler, right? Nobody wants to hit that dude.”
Echoles took two offensive snaps all afternoon. He also played 47 on defense and rushed the passer 37 times, more than anyone on the roster.
Jaylon Braxton ran a blocked extra point back 92 yards
Auburn scored in the second quarter to make it 7-6 and lined up for the tying kick. Ole Miss blocked it — the first missed extra point of the Auburn kicker’s career — and Braxton picked it up and ran.
He got 92 yards before being tackled at the five, which saved Auburn two points.
It was that kind of day for Braxton. He also played 70 defensive snaps — more than any Rebel — was targeted three times in coverage, allowed one catch, and that catch lost a yard. The passer rating he gave up was 42.4, the best mark on the defense.
Chambliss had a hand in four touchdowns
| Trinidad Chambliss vs Auburn | |
|---|---|
| Passing | 22-of-34, 263 yards, 2 TD |
| Rushing | 7 carries, 65 yards, 1 TD |
| PFF offensive grade | 85.7 — best by any Rebel this season |
The 26-yard quarterback draw that put Ole Miss up 24-15 late in the third quarter was the play that ended the competitive portion. He also pulled it down on third-and-11 earlier for 13.
Both of his touchdown passes came in the fourth quarter: six yards to Caleb Cunningham, then 28 yards to Horatio Fields.
Set that against the week before in Austin — 52 attempts, three interceptions, seven rushing yards — and the shape of the change is obvious. He explained it himself afterward: “If I see green grass, take off. Use your legs. I came here as a dual-threat quarterback, and I still am a dual-threat quarterback.”
Shekai Mills-Knight had 42 rushing yards all season before Saturday
Through seven games: 42 yards. Against Auburn, with Kewan Lacy out: 16 carries for 71 and a touchdown.
Lacy is out with a separated shoulder, the injury he landed on in the third quarter at Texas.
Golding’s explanation for trusting Mills-Knight with the job had nothing to do with carrying the ball: “We always knew he could run the football… But his development and understanding of the offense and allowing Six and the other guys to trust him.” The grades agree — Mills-Knight pass blocked at 76.6, against Makhi Frazier’s 34.0.
How it actually unfolded
| Score | Play |
|---|---|
| 7-0 | Will Echoles, 1-yard run (first play of the 2nd quarter) |
| 7-6 | Auburn touchdown; extra point blocked, Braxton returns it 92 yards |
| 14-6 | Shekai Mills-Knight, 1-yard run |
| 14-9 | Auburn field goal — halftime |
| 17-9 | Ole Miss field goal, 20 yards |
| 17-15 | Auburn touchdown — the last points the Tigers scored |
| 24-15 | Chambliss, 26-yard run |
| 31-15 | Chambliss to Caleb Cunningham, 6 yards |
| 38-15 | Chambliss to Horatio Fields, 28 yards |
| 45-15 | Deuce Knight, 17-yard run (3:27 left) |
From 17-15 to the finish: 28 unanswered. Auburn ran nine possessions after cutting it to two and did not score on any of them. Two of them, back to back in the second half, were three-and-outs, and Ole Miss scored after both.
The streak nobody mentioned
Ole Miss has now beaten Auburn three years in a row. Before this run the Rebels had lost six straight in the series.
And one from the other sideline worth knowing, because it very nearly ended in Oxford: Auburn has now scored in 174 consecutive games, a school record going back to the first game of 2013. The Tigers did not score after the third quarter on Saturday.
Georgia is in Oxford on Saturday night.
Photo: Caleb Cunningham and Shekai Mills-Knight, October 31, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Box score and scoring summary via ESPN and the Auburn athletics release. Snap counts and grades via Pro Football Focus. Quotes from the Auburn postgame press conferences, October 31, 2026.