This is the Depth Dossier: the Ole Miss Rebels, Week 9.

Ole Miss didn't just beat Auburn, they buried them, scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half to turn a tight game into a 45 to 15 blowout. And the name everybody's talking about afterward isn't even the quarterback, it's a sophomore running back who had 42 yards all season before kickoff.

Let's set the stage. Auburn hung around into the third quarter, trailing just 17 to 15, before quarterback Trinidad Chambliss broke the game open with a 26-yard touchdown run. That sparked a 28 to nothing finish. Chambliss finished with 328 total yards and three touchdowns, took zero sacks, and ran a third-down offense that converted 13 of 16 chances. With running back Kewan Lacy out, sophomore running back Shekai Mills-Knight carried the load and scored on a one-yard plunge. The defense woke up late, holding Auburn to 63 rushing yards, forcing two fumbles, and shutting the Tigers out over the final 21 minutes, with defensive linemen Suntarine Perkins and Tah'j Butler combining for four sacks.

Now, that third-down number deserves its own spotlight. Converting over 81 percent of third downs isn't just good, it's the kind of thing that wins a game by itself. Ole Miss put together four drives of ten-plus plays and kept the ball away from Auburn's offense for nearly 33 minutes. This wasn't an explosive, big-play win. It was an attrition win, grinding Auburn down until a close game turned into a laugher.

The run game tells its own story underneath all that. With Lacy out, Ole Miss still ran for 224 yards on 48 carries, averaging more than four and a half yards a pop, spread across four different backs. That's not one guy having a career day. That's the offensive line, which hasn't allowed a sack in two straight weeks, doing the heavy lifting no matter who's lined up behind it.

In the red zone, Ole Miss was perfect. Five trips, five scores, four of them touchdowns. That kind of finishing is what separates a one-score game from a blowout.

A few other moments worth keeping. Wide receiver Horatio Fields caught a 28-yard touchdown against the program he once committed to, finishing with six catches for 73 yards. Backup quarterback Deuce Knight got mop-up duty late and ripped off a 17-yard touchdown run, a fun wrinkle, but nobody's challenging Chambliss for that job. Wide receiver Deuce Alexander briefly left the game after an awkward landing, but came back and caught five passes for 59 yards. And head coach Pete Golding said the second-half separation let him rest his starters for the final eight minutes, which could matter more going forward than it did Saturday.

Now to the depth chart, where the biggest story is actually good news. No new long-term injuries came out of this game, which matters a lot given who's coming up next. Lacy is still out with the shoulder issue that's lingered since the Texas game, and his absence didn't just get papered over, it created a real question at running back. Mills-Knight is now the primary early-down back alongside running back Makhi Frazier, with running back JT Lindsey reduced to a rotational role. Sixteen carries for 71 yards and a touchdown from a guy who had 42 yards on the entire season isn't something that just goes away once Lacy's healthy. Expect a committee back there even after he returns.

Everywhere else, it's steady as it goes. The offensive line stays intact after another clean week with no sacks allowed. Fields and tight end Caleb Cunningham remain the top targets, with Alexander still seeing heavy volume. Perkins and Butler anchor what's now the most reliable unit on the roster up front, and defensive backs Dante Core and Anthony Robinson the Third keep their starting jobs after forcing turnovers.

One thing to watch heading into Georgia week: Alexander's muffed punt return attempt. That, and just how much Lacy's shoulder lets him do when he's back on the field.

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.