2) Don’t read too much into the defense allowing 23 points to Ole Miss

The Ole Miss offense seems uniquely qualified to give Auburn fits. It did last year when it racked up 570 yards and 29 points in Oxford on Oct. 29 of last season, and it again did Saturday when it totaled 429 yards and 23 points at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The outing made the Rebels the first team this season to top 400 yards and 14 points against the Tigers — until Saturday, Auburn was the only team in the nation that had held every opponent to 14 points or fewer. Ole Miss reached those totals in large part due to its quarterback, Shea Patterson, who completed 34 of 51 passes for 346 yards and a pair of touchdowns. A lot of those passes came out of his hand quickly, which helped to negate Auburn’s pass rush. But, as Malzahn made note of after the game, a sizeable portion of that production came after the Tigers’ first-team defenders had given way to the second- and third-team guys late in the game. Ole Miss scored only 10 points through the first three quarters before scoring 13 in the fourth. And Auburn likely won’t face an offense like the Rebels’ again this season; there aren’t any other teams in the SEC West that would call 51 pass plays to just 30 runs.

3) Auburn doesn’t have a wide receiver opposing defenses can key on, and that’s a good thing

One thing that’s been consistent about Jarrett Stidham’s recent hot streak is that he hasn’t had one go-to receiver down the field. Twenty-one of the quarterback’s 72 completions over the last four games have gone to slot receiver Ryan Davis, but those completions have only made up 196 of the 1,081 yards he has thrown for. The other 51 receptions and 885 yards have been spread around fairly evenly between a large group of receivers. Will Hastings, Eli Stove, Kyle Davis, Nate Craig-Myers and Darius Slayton all have at least three receptions during those four games, but none has more than Stove’s 10. On the season, every one of those five players has at least six catches for somewhere between 131 and 270 yards, and all but Stove and Davis have scored at least one touchdown. Auburn might not have the classic go-to option down the field like it had in Ricardo Louis, Sammie Coates or Darvin Adams, but if all of those players continue to produce the way they have, there won’t be player in the passing game opposing defenses will be able to focus too much effort into eliminating. Stidham has too many other options.

Josh Vitale is the Auburn beat writer for the Opelika-Auburn News. You can follow him on Twitter at @AUBlog. To reach him by email, click here.