Auburn vs Mississippi State Football
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee (left) react to play in the first quarter against Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. (Mark Almond/ malmond@al.com)
-- For whatever reason, Auburn is nowhere near its best offensively on the road.
The Tigers would rather not keep up that trend Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN) at Ole Miss, where points could be hard to produce against the nation's best defense.
Auburn has played only two games on the road -- and those came against teams now ranked No. 1 and 9 in the playoff committee's rankings -- but slow starts hurt the Tigers, who averaged 21.5 points in the win against Kansas State and loss to Mississippi State.
"The last game (against Mississippi State), we turned the ball over the very first two plays of the game," Auburn coach
Gus Malzahn
said. "I don't think atmosphere really had much to do with that. It was just we got off to a bad start, we put ourselves in a hole and before we looked up, it was 21-0. It was one of those uphill battles as far as that goes."
In fact, both road games were an uphill battle for Auburn. Auburn stretched its nation-leading winning streak in home games to 14 on Saturday against South Carolina by doing what it has done all season: scoring points in bunches and averaging 46.4 points per game. It's quite the contrast on the road.
"You win games by being good on first down, staying on the field on third down and scoring touchdowns in the red zone," offensive coordinator
Rhett Lashlee
said. "We had been pretty good at that until Mississippi State, and we were really poor."
Auburn has failed to get off to a strong start in road games, and didn't score a touchdown until its seventh and eighth drives against Kansas State and Mississippi State. The Tigers are much better in five home games, where their first touchdown comes on the second drive on average.
Auburn scored on six of its first eight possessions in the 42-35 victory against South Carolina last week, rushing for a season-high 395 yards along the way. Auburn used its bye week following the 38-23 loss at Mississippi State to better identify its strengths and the result was the production against the Gamecocks.
"To win these games down the stretch, we're going to have to come up with six (points) a lot more than we do three," Lashlee said. "So, I was glad we focused on that for those two weeks, and we did a good job executing and getting the ball in the end zone."
Meanwhile, Ole Miss' defense has been stellar throughout the season. Its first-team defense has allowed only four touchdowns this season while forcing 24 turnovers, including a nation-leading 17 interceptions.
"Against a very good defense, you're going to have to have explosive plays to be successful," Malzahn said. "That'll be a big key, too."
Auburn ranks ninth nationally with runs of 10-plus yards (65). Ole Miss' defense has allowed only 26 such runs, tying for 13th nationally.
"They don't give up a bunch, and we're at our best when we get some explosive plays," Malzahn said.
A sure sign of success Saturday for Auburn? A rare fast start on the road.