From the Other Sideline – Ole Miss

Steven Willis (no relation to Patrick Willis) hosts Locked On Ole Miss, the daily Ole Miss Rebels podcast on the Locked On Podcast Network, and runs OleMissHub.com. He spent ten years in national media before going all-in on the Rebels. Find him on X at @TheStevenWillis and at LockedonOleMiss.Supercast.com. This is his first time on the Blogle, so let’s see what he’s got.

1. What is an Ole Miss fan’s first thought of Auburn football at this exact moment?

“Wait, that Auburn beat Georgia?” A buzzer-beater in Athens to knock off No. 1, then a 21-point loss to LSU the next week. Ole Miss fans aren’t sure which Auburn is getting off the bus in Oxford. We’re just hoping it’s the one that played in Baton Rouge.

2. Of Ole Miss’s three mascots, which is your favorite and why?

The Landshark, and it isn’t close. Colonel Reb belongs to another era, and the Rebel Black Bear was a committee’s idea of a mascot. The Landshark started as a defensive hand signal on the sideline and the fans turned it into the brand. Nobody voted for it. It just took over. That’s the most Ole Miss thing possible. 🦈

3. Is Auburn considered a rival, or just a school Ole Miss coaches eventually end up working for?

Let’s call it a feeder program, except it feeds the wrong direction. Hugh Freeze went from Oxford to the Plains, and the DJ Durkin pipeline runs the same way. At this point Auburn’s coaching search firm should just keep an office on the Square. It isn’t a rivalry in the Egg Bowl sense, but Auburn leads the series 35-12, so we’d call it a grudge with a staffing agreement.

4. Who are your two favorite Auburn Tigers of all time?

Bo Jackson, because he’s the greatest athlete college football has ever seen and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. And Cam Newton, because the 2010 season was one man playing a different sport from everybody else. I respect them both. I’m also glad neither of them is suiting up Saturday.

5. Name two Rebels that Auburn fans should look out for and why?

Jalyn Crawford, the former Auburn defensive back. He had two interceptions at Texas, the first Rebel with two in a game since 2023, and now he gets his old team in Oxford. Revenge games are a cliché until they aren’t.

Will Echoles. He’s PFF’s highest-graded Ole Miss defender and leads the team in pressures. Auburn’s line has given up sacks in bunches this year, and Echoles lives in the backfield.

Honorable mention: with Kewan Lacy out, Makhi Frazier gets the keys. He already went for 101 against Missouri.

6. Which two Tigers scare you the most and why?

Byrum Brown. He ran for 115 yards against Georgia’s defense. A quarterback who can kill you with his legs is the one thing that has bothered this Ole Miss defense, and Brown is the best runner at the position Ole Miss has seen in a while.

Elijah Melendez. He’s Auburn’s leading tackler with real sack and tackle-for-loss production, and he’s the guy who can blow up a run game that’s now playing without Lacy.

7. Where will each team have an advantage over the other?

Ole Miss: the pass rush against Auburn’s protection, the red zone (Ole Miss has scored on every trip this season), and the building. Ole Miss is 38-3 at home since 2021. Vaught-Hemingway is a problem for visitors now, and the “there’s no home-field advantage in Oxford” crowd needs to update their talking points.

Auburn: the quarterback run game, especially if Ole Miss misses on contain. Also early in the game. Ole Miss has scored on its opening drive only once all season, so Auburn has a real chance to land the first punch.

8. What is your analysis/score prediction for the game?

Ole Miss is coming off a loss in Austin where Trinidad Chambliss threw three picks and still almost pulled off a 21-point comeback. That team is angry, and it’s back home. Auburn’s ceiling is real, as Georgia found out, but its floor is LSU by 21, and the road version of Auburn has looked a lot more like the floor. Ole Miss makes Brown throw from the pocket, Echoles and company live in the backfield, and the Rebels pull away in the second half.

Ole Miss 38, Auburn 7.

9. Where will Auburn and Ole Miss end up this season?

Ole Miss gets to 9-3 and into the playoff for a second straight year. Georgia in Oxford next week decides how high the seed is, not whether they’re in. Auburn gets to a bowl, and the Georgia win buys Golesh a lot of goodwill on the Plains. That’s a good year one. It just isn’t a good Saturday this week.

10. Lastly, what do you think of Alex Golesh?

He’s legit, and I don’t say that to be polite. He came up in the Josh Heupel tree, turned USF from a 1-11 team into a bowl team, brought his quarterback with him, and beat the No. 1 team in the country in Athens in year one. Auburn fans should be excited. Ole Miss fans just need him to be excited about November 7 instead. Ask me again in two years whether he’s at Auburn or a bigger job.