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Ole Miss 41, Auburn 20: Tigers fall apart again

After a solid first 30 minutes, Auburn collapsed in the second half and suffered a 21-point loss at Ole Miss.

Chuck Cook-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire



For 30 minutes, Auburn was the team fans had hoped to see this season. The defense struggled some, but it did a pretty good job of keeping Ole Miss' powerful offense in check. The Tiger offense, meanwhile, relied on power running to rally from an early 14-point deficit. Going into the locker room tied at 17, Auburn looked like a team that could pick up its first SEC win of the season. In the second half, everything changed, and Auburn stumbled to a 41-20 defeat.

Just like it was for the rest of the Tigers (1-5, 0-4 SEC) the game was a tale of two halves for quarterback Clint Moseley, who was making his first start of the season. Moseley started the game 8 of 8 for 90 yards, as he did a nice job of managing the game between run plays. In the second half, he completed just 3 of 10 passes for 22 yards, and he threw a fourth-quarter interception that sealed Auburn's fate. Auburn's coaching staff will have you believe Moseley was given the start due to an injury to sophomore Kiehl Frazier, but it's more likely that Gene Chizik and Scot Loeffler were looking for an offensive spark to help get a much-needed win. For 30 minutes, Moseley looked like that spark.

But in the second half, the gameplan that had given Auburn so much first-half success went out the window, and so did Moseley's impressive play. In the end, Chizik and Loeffler's gambit failed, and the sacrifice of Frazier's development for an immediate payoff was a waste. In the end, it may be the nail in Chizik's coffin.

There's much more to discuss, but that's all that can be mustered right now.