Auburn’s final game before the bye week didn’t get Bryan Harsin’s team over the hump, but it may have gotten the Tigers closer to figuring things out.

Auburn fell to Ole Miss, 48-34, on Saturday in Oxford, Miss., dropping its third game in a row heading into the open date. The Tigers are now below .500 on the season, sitting at 3-4 overall and 1-3 in SEC play.

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Rewinding Auburn’s 48-34 loss to Ole Miss

The latest setback saw Auburn start to figure things out with its run game, rushing for more than 300 yards against Ole Miss, but brought forward other questions for the team to solve during the break in its schedule. Before the Tigers can look inward for some self-evaluation during the off week, let’s take a look back at Saturday’s loss to the Rebels and hand out position-by-position grades for Auburn in this week’s report card:

Quarterbacks: C-

Robby Ashford scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, but he also committed two turnovers, with a pair of interceptions, and had another fumble that he managed to recover as ball security continues to be an issue for the redshirt freshman. He wasn’t alone in that regard, as T.J. Finley—in his first action since sustaining a shoulder sprain against Penn State on Sept. 17—lot a fumble on a strip-sack on his lone offensive series. Finley did not attempt a pass, while Ashford completed just 8-of-17 passes (47 percent) for 140 yards and the two interceptions. While Ashford extended some plays and had some big third-down throws, inconsistency remains.

Running backs: A+

Auburn couldn’t have asked for more from its backfield, as Tank Bigsby had his best game of the season and his best overall since his final game of his freshman season. The junior rushed for 179 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 20 carries, averaging 9 yards per carry, and he broke off two runs of 50 yards. Jarquez Hunter, meanwhile, added 80 yards on 10 carries, as the two helped Auburn eclipse 300 yards rushing on the afternoon.

Wide receivers: C

Auburn’s passing game was erratic against Ole Miss, with just eight completions and five of them going to wide receivers, but there were a handful of big plays from the wide receiver corps, which also did well in blocking in the run game and helping open some things up on the perimeter. Koy Moore had a 46-yard reception to convert a third-and-15. Omari Kelly had a 19-yard catch to convert a third-and-9 to get Auburn down to the 2-yard line and set up the Tigers’ first score of the game. Malcolm Johnson Jr. was the only receiver with multiple catches, finishing with two for 10 yards.

Tight ends: C-

Luke Deal had a big 32-yard reception to convert a third down and help Auburn answer after Ole Miss went up two scores in the third quarter. John Samuel Shenker also had one reception for 5 yards on his only target. Again, it wasn’t much in the passing game, but the position played a key role in paving the way for the rushing attack.

Offensive line: B+

Auburn fielded another new-look line Saturday, as Austin Troxell did not make the trip to Oxford. The Tigers went with Kilian Zierer at left tackle, Jeremiah Wright at left guard, Brandon Council at center, Kam Stutts at right guard and Brenden Coffey at right tackle. The formular worked, for the most part, as the group paved the way for Auburn’s best rushing performance against a Power 5 opponent since 2017 — against Ole Miss. The Tigers ran for 301 yards and averaged 7.3 yards per carry when you don’t factor in sacks, and most importantly, Bigsby and Hunter were seldom getting first contact in the backfield, so they were able to get downhill and avoid negative plays. The only downside for the line was pass protection, giving up three sacks on the afternoon.

Defensive line: F

It’s hard to find positives for a defensive front that was absolutely walloped on the ground, with Ole Miss rushing for 448 yards and three touchdowns on the afternoon. Auburn had just three tackles for a loss, with only one of them coming from its defensive line (Colby Wooden). There were missed fits and missed tackles, and Ole Miss’ offensive line clearly won the battle in the trenches, as the Rebels averaged 6.6 sack-adjusted yards per carry.

Linebackers: D

Owen Pappoe, at least, came to play. The senior had a career-high and team-leading 16 tackles against Ole Miss, but as he said after the game: That’s cool, but the Rebels just ran the ball way too successfully for him to enjoy that accomplishment. Wesley Steiner added nine tackles, but again, it’s hard to justify a passing grade when Ole Miss had its way with Auburn’s front seven on the ground, with three players eclipsing the 100-yard rushing mark.

Defensive backs: D

A couple positives: Keionte Scott picked off a pass on a pinball-esque play, marking the secondary’s first interception of the season. The Tigers also limited Jaxson Dart to just 9-of-19 passing (47 percent) for 130 yards through the air. The negatives: Three of Dart’s nine completions were for touchdowns, including ones of 35 and 23 yards, as Auburn lost some one-on-ones in coverage. The three passing touchdowns were more than Auburn’s defense allowed through its first six games of the season (two), and they marked the first ones the Tigers have surrendered since Week 1 against Mercer.

Special teams: D

Oscar Chapman was great, as usual, averaging 49.3 yards on three punts, with a long of 57 that was downed at the 6-yard line. Anders Carlson hit both of his field goals, including a 42-yarder as time expired in the first half. However, the biggest swing of the game came on special teams, with Auburn on the wrong side of it. Ole Miss attempted a surprise onside kick with 9:45 to go in the third quarter and leading by seven. Auburn never suspected it and didn’t react quick enough, as Ole Miss easily recovered the onside attempt (the four players closest to the ball after it went the requisite 10 yards were all wearing powder blue jerseys). That allowed the Rebels to steal a possession at a critical juncture, and they capitalized, putting together a touchdown drive after the onside kick to go up two scores and keep Auburn at arm’s length the rest of the game.

Coaches: F

On the one hand, Auburn figured some things out offensively, it seems, and has something it can build off during the bye week. On the other, the defense was utterly unprepared for Lane Kiffin’s offense, which torched Auburn on the ground and made it pay through the air. Kiffin out-schemed Harsin and the Tigers’ defensive staff, and his onside-kick gambit caught Harsin and the special teams coaches completely off-guard.

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