Mississippi entered Saturday’s SEC West Division game at Auburn ranked 3rd in the country in rushing offense, but Auburn’s rushing attack and its 4th-down defense was the decisive factor in victory.

Tank Bigsby rushed for 140 yards and a score and quarterback Bo Nix ran for 2 TDs as the Tigers beat the Rebels 31-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Mississippi’s gambling ways on offense came up empty in the second half as Matt Corral, playing on two banged-up ankles, could not find a receiver on three 4th-down conversion attempts.

After one of those turnovers on downs, Auburn (6-2 overall, 3-1 SEC) drove 76 plays for Anders Carlson’s 28-yard field goal with 10:52 left in the game for a 31-20 lead.

Then Ole Miss (6-2, 3-2) drove deep into Tigers territory again but Corral was intercepted in the end zone by sophomore cornerback Jaylin Simpson with 9:01 left.

The Rebels got the ball back again after forcing a fumble and a 26-yard pass to Jahcour Pearson set them up deep in Tigers territory. But yet another 4th-down try failed on an incompletion (and Ole Miss also committed two penalties on the play, which Auburn declined).

Ole Miss, ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll, got the first big break of the second half when Auburn’s Demetris Robertson muffed a punt and the Rebels recovered at the Auburn 29-yard line. But a 4th down pass fell incomplete as the Rebels — who lead the nation in 4th-down attempts and conversions — failed to get the margin back within one score. The Rebels did get within 28-20 on Caden Costa’s 49-yard field goal with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

No. 18 Auburn capped a very strong first half with Nix’s 9-TD pass to freshman Jarquez Hunter with 11 seconds left in the second quarter, capping a 69-yard drive for a 28-17 halftime lead.

Corral left the game with an apparent ankle injury in the first half but came back in the middle of the Rebels’ 15-play, 88-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. Backup quarterback Luke Altmyer went 5-for-5 early on that drive in place of Corral.

On the ensuing Auburn drive, the Tigers scored on Nix’s second TD run, this time from 7 yards for a 21-10 lead.

But Corral, who wounds up passing for 250-plus yards, ran for an 11-yard TD on the next Ole Miss possession, capping a 10-play, 78-yard drive. It was the 10th rushing score of the season for the junior, tops among SEC quarterbacks.

The Tigers struck first, driving 82 yards in 11 plays, capped by Nix’s 11-yard TD run. Nix was 3-for-3 on the drive. The Rebels, who came in averaging 263 rushing yards and 541 total yards per game, also scored on their first possession, reaching the Auburn 9 before settling for Costa’s 29-yard field goal.