The Sports Xchange
Oct 7, 2017
Kerryon Johnson rushed for a career-high 204 yards and scored three touchdowns to help No. 12 Auburn roll to a 44-23 victory over Mississippi on Saturday in SEC play at Auburn, Ala.
Johnson has rushed for 11 touchdowns over the past three games and continues to pick up the slack with fellow junior backfield partner Kamryn Pettway dealing with an ankle injury. Johnson scored on runs of 17, 48 and 5 yards while leading the Tigers (5-1, 3-0) to their fourth consecutive victory.
Sophomore quarterback Jarrett Stidham completed 14 of 21 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns for Auburn. Junior Ryan Davis (75-yarder) and sophomore Darius Slayton (19) caught the scoring passes.
Tigers senior Daniel Carlson connected on three field goals and his 35-yarder with 6:42 remaining made him the all-time leading scorer in SEC history with 413 career points. He passed Blair Walsh, who had 412 for Georgia from 2008-11.
Ole Miss sophomore quarterback Shea Patterson passed for 346 yards and two touchdowns, both to redshirt freshman receiver D.K. Metcalf. Sophomore wideout A.J. Brown caught 10 passes for 109 yards but the Rebels (2-3, 0-2) had issues on defense and allowed 561 yards while losing their third straight game.
The contest marked the first time Auburn allowed more than 14 points this season. The Tigers entered the contest as the only FBS school that could make that claim.
Johnson got the Tigers on the board with a 17-yard run midway through the first quarter. Ole Miss followed with a 27-yard field goal from senior Gary Wunderlich with 4:19 remaining, but Auburn struck on its next offensive play when Stidham teamed with Davis on a 75-yard scoring play to make it 14-3 with 4:04 left in the quarter.
Stidham connected with Slayton on a 19-yard touchdown pass seven seconds into the second quarter. Johnson tacked on the 48-yard scoring jaunt to make it 28-3 with 12:24 to go, and later added the 5-yard touchdown run with 6:38 left in the half.
The Rebels found the end zone for the first time on Patterson's 9-yard scoring pass with 13:53 left in the third quarter. The duo teamed up again with a 8-yarder with 12:27 remaining in the game to cut the Ole Miss deficit to 41-17.
Carlson followed with his historic field goal to boost the margin to 27. He also made field goals from 49 and 25 yards.
NOTES: Junior RB Kamryn Pettway (ankle) has played in just three of Auburn's six games. ... The Rebels have been outscored 110-26 the past two weeks, beginning with a 66-3 loss to top-ranked Alabama. ... Tigers junior RB Kerryon Johnson now has six multi-touchdown games in his career, including each of the past three contests. ... Ole Miss senior K Gary Wunderlich departed after he aggravated a hamstring injury. ... Auburn is 15-3 at home versus Ole Miss. ... Rebels sophomore QB Shea Patterson topped 300 yards passing for the fourth time in five games this season.