Winners and Losers on the Plains

We have had a couple of days to digest the 28-21 victory over Auburn on Saturday Evening. It felt there were a lot of winners in the game, with not that many losers. Who were the players or positional groups who made an impact on the Plains? Good or bad.

Winners

Quinshon Judkins

Much of the talk leading up to the game was running back Quinshon Judkins heading back to the state of Alabama. Judkins, grew up in Montgomery, an hour away from Auburn.

After a slow start to the season, not helped by dealing with injuries, Judkins has started to pop again. On Saturday, the sophomore ran the ball 21 times for 124 yards and a touchdown.

One of his best plays came on 3rd and 22 at the Ole Miss 49 yard line. Judkins scampered through the Auburn defense for a 21 yard gain. Then on 4th and 1, Judkins raced to the outside and lowered his shoulder into the DB, picking up another 17 yards and putting the Rebels in the red zone.

A fit and healthy Judkins is going to be key in Ole Miss having another 10+ win season under Kiffin.

Defensive Line

Any number of the defensive line could have been a lone winner, so why not bunch them together.

The Auburn offensive line had problems with the Ole Miss defensive front all evening, totalling 3 sacks and 9 tackles for loss. Even when athletic QB Robby Ashford came into the game, the line held strong against him for the most part.

Jared Ivey, Cedric Johnson and Issac Ukwu picked up the sacks. On top of that, JJ Pegues and Akelo Stone had big stops against the run.

Stone played a big part in the interception near the end of the 4th quarter. The big DT made a hit on Auburn QB Payton Thorne, causing the throw to not reach it’s target and being picked off by Zamari Walton.

Jaxson Dart

QB Jaxson Dart could have been in the bottom category if things went  a little differently. Dart was picked off in the Ole Miss side of the field, resulting in a Auburn TD 4 plays later. The Rebels QB had his receiver wide open, but unfortunately threw the ball behind him, with the receiver tipping the ball into an Auburn defenders arms.

Dart made up for it later with a rushing TD, adding to his previous 29 yard rushing TD. Dart also had some key throws in the game, including a beautifully placed pass to TE Caden Prieskorn outside the right hash.

On another day Dart could have been in the below section. However, he did enough to drag his team to victory on the Plains, alongside a fine display from the defense.

Losers

Kicking/Special Teams

There were some big mistakes from Ole Miss, but plenty from the kicking and special team units. The noise on the Plains was electric, with it affecting some of the players in key moments.

The first mistake came not long before the first half ended. With a chance to go 17-14 up with a short field goal, it all went pair shaped. Holder Charlie Pollock could not handle the snap, with the ball not being placed down in time. The back up punter had to improvise and looked to make a pass, but was intercepted.

The second was a muffed punt from returner Dayton Wade. Luckily he was able to jump back on the ball, otherwise the game could have swung away from the Rebels.

Some of the punting was also not up to scratch, giving Auburn some nice field position. Luckily the Ole Miss defense had an excellent game and stopped any advantage being made in those situations

Things will need to be cleaned up going forward as they may not be so lucky to escape in other games.