Chad Kelly deserved the flack he got for past bad behavior. He deserved the social media slamming he got for the DM drama with a porn star.

He didn’t deserve Saturday night’s 40-29 loss to No. 15 Auburn.

Ole Miss (3-5, 1-4) has lost three straight games. A loss last week to LSU yielded a season-low 218 passing yards for Kelly.

On Saturday, Kelly threw it 59 times and completed 36 of them for 465 yards and 3 touchdowns. He broke Archie Manning’s 436 yards to break a single-game Ole Miss record. He was accurate near and far, check downs at the right times, with one badly-timed interception.

He had to be near perfect to overcome Auburn’s running game – the Tigers had 307 rushing yards and 554 total.

Down by a point with about a minute to play in the first half and facing a 3rd-and-11, he found running back Akeem Judd on a check down for a key first down. That drive ended with a field goal for a 22-20 lead at the half.

First halves have not been the problem for Ole Miss in five losses. Second halves have. Kelly kept it going in the second half. Ole Miss scored only one touchdown in the half, but Kelly did that without a running game and with Auburn’s defense barreling at him.

Ole Miss has next to no running game (105 yards on 31 carries, 40 of it Kelly’s) and a porous passing defense. A trick formation led to a Jalen Harris touchdown catch that capped back-to-back plays where the Rebels’ defense looked absolutely lost as Auburn took a 27-22 lead.

Kelly answered with a 21-yard run on an ensuing scoring drive, one play running through two tacklers before he threaded a needle to receiver Damore’ea Stringfellow to retake a lead with 90 seconds left in the third quarter, the sixth lead change of the game.

That was the only way Ole Miss was going to win. He would not slide. He would not say no to a passing play. And he still lost.

The interception in the fourth quarter came a play after Evan Engram couldn’t handle a touchdown catch he normally handles. But Kelly did plenty to get the much-needed win. His guts merited a victory.

His defense provided a three-and-out to start the second half, the first punt of the game. Kelly answered with a drive that stalled on a fourth down at the Auburn 3 but one that got there thanks to Kelly going 4-of-5 passing for 59 yards, and running for 19 more.

Kelly did that kind of damage behind a makeshift offensive line that started true freshman Greg Little at left tackle and redshirt freshman Alex Givens on the right. To top that off, they couldn’t substitute as much as really necessary due to tempo. It worked two centers, Sean Rawlings and Robert Conyers, yet the Rebels didn’t punt for two-and-a-half quarters due to Kelly’s impressive performance.

Ole Miss needed a win to get the ship somewhat back on track, and beating No. 15 would have been big. Chad Kelly had to be huge for that to happen. He was.