One Thing to Fix, One Thing to Continue for Auburn Tigers Against Ole Miss

The Auburn Tigers took a bad loss last weekend at home against LSU, as Lane Kiffin and company visited the Plains and had their way with the Tigers, blowing out the Tigers by a final margin of 38-17. This was quite a weak showing from the Tigers, especially after their prior win over No. 1 Georgia in Athens, illustrating just how far the pendulum of momentum can swing for the Tigers.

Up next for the Tigers is a matchup that could be just as challenging: Ole Miss, the No. 12 team in the country. The Tigers have just a 25.1% chance to win the matchup in Oxford, according to ESPN’s FPI, but they can give themselves much better odds by correcting one aspect of their offense and continuing another.

What to Fix: Rushing Attack

This one seems simple, but the Tigers only ran the ball 11 times with a running back against LSU, a trait that simply cannot continue if the Tigers want to be competitive in SEC play. LSU was quite effective against the run, limiting the Tigers to just 67 rushing yards over the course of the day.

Auburn’s leading running back, Jeremiah Cobb, carried the ball just five times for a total of 14 yards. Conversely, against Georgia, Cobb rushed 13 times for 61 yards, which was still not the most impressive day, but the Tigers established the fact that they were willing to run the ball through Cobb, which created an extra wrinkle for Georgia’s defense to handle.

The Tigers seemed to all but give up on the rushing attack against LSU, which cost them in a big way as they struggled to get any offense going. To beat Ole Miss, Auburn will need to, at the very least, establish a tendency to run the ball with their backs, which should open things up a bit more for both Byrum Brown’s rushing and passing down the stretch.

What to Keep: Turnover-Free Football

The Tigers struggled with turnovers early in the season, but seem to have found their stride after the bye week, as Byrum Brown, who once ranked quite high in the SEC with seven interceptions, has now gone two straight games against top-level opponents without turning over the ball.

This is much more like the Byrum Brown we saw at USF, who was much more sure-handed with his throws, and despite his troubles with pressure over the past two games, he has continued to make sure that, at the very least, the ball stays in the Tigers’ possession until a punt is necessary.

Turnovers could be incredibly costly against a high-level team like Ole Miss, so the Tigers will need to make an extra effort to limit giveaways at all costs. The good news is, if Brown continues at this rate, the Tigers shouldn’t have too many turnover issues throughout the rest of the season.

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