An emboldened Ole Miss fan climbed out of the stands and onto the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium midway through the fourth quarter and ran toward the southwest end zone. He raised his arms skyward, smiling as he jogged into the end zone, where he was promptly taken down by swarm of security and police officers.

Even that unruly Rebels fan, it seemed, wanted to see if he could run on Auburn’s defense. Everyone else could, at least.

Read more Auburn football: Rewinding Auburn’s 48-34 loss to Ole Miss

What Bryan Harsin said about Auburn’s third straight loss

Instant analysis from Auburn’s loss to Ole Miss

Auburn’s defense turned in a historically bad performance against the run Saturday during its 48-34 loss to No. 9 Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. The Tigers allowed 448 rushing yards to the Rebels, who found the end zone three times on the ground and averaged 6.5 yards per carry for the day.

“It’s the same story this week — misfits,” edge Derick Hall said. “We gift a lot of things to teams…. They just exploited our mistakes, and offenses want to do that.”

It was the most rushing yards allowed by Auburn in a game in at least 20 yards and was the team’s worst defensive effort against the run since Oct. 12, 2002, against Arkansas. That was the day the Razorbacks gashed the Tigers to the tune of 426 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, led by Fred Talley’s 241 yards.

Auburn didn’t allow a 200-yard rusher Saturday, but three Ole Miss players eclipsed the 100-yard plateau in this football game-turned-track meet. Quinshon Judkins, an Alabama native who grew up just down the road from Auburn in Pike Road, paced the Rebels with 139 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Zach Evans had 136 yards rushing and a touchdown, while quarterback Jaxson Dart added 115 yards.

“I thought both those backs for Ole Miss were impressive, and they were getting downhill, they were breaking tackles, they were falling forward and getting extra yards every time they carried it,” Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said.

Ole Miss finished with its most rushing yards in a single game since at least 2000. It was the first time the Rebels eclipsed 400 yards on the ground in SEC play since 2019 against LSU. According to Harsin, Ole Miss did some things formation-wise and in terms of scheme that caused some issues, and Dart’s mobility and ability to keep it opened up some inside-zone opportunities for Judkins and Evans.

That hurt, but the missed tackles were crippling. The Rebels took advantage, finishing with 13 runs of at least 10 yards — totaling 262 yards on those big plays — including six runs of 20-plus yards.

“You look at their yards, they had about 450 yards rushing; that’s a big game,” Harsin said. “So, with those explosive runs and that consistency at the end, you’ve got to be able to slow them down. That’s hard in between the tackles, and those backs were good.”

In its last two games, Auburn’s defense has been plowed through on the ground. Georgia ran for 292 yards and six touchdowns in last weekend’s blowout between the hedges, meaning Auburn has given up 740 yards, nine touchdowns and 6.85 yards per carry in those two games.

The Tigers are allowing 204.4 yards per game on the ground this season, with 19 touchdowns, while opponents have averaged 4.85 yards per carry. Against Power 5 opponents, the numbers are more concerning: 1,303 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, 260.6 rushing yards allowed per game and 5.54 yards per carry.

“It’s kind of been a bad trend that we’ve had this season,” linebacker Owen Pappoe said. “That needs to get corrected. We’re going into a bye week, and now everybody on the team has a chance to look in the mirror and reevaluate what we’ve been doing, because obviously it hasn’t been working.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.