OXFORD, Miss. -- Auburn quarterback Bo Nix directed two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, capped by a 42-yard touchdown pass to Seth Williams with 1:11 left, to lift the Tigers to a 35-28 comeback victory over Mississippi on Saturday.
"Bo [Nix] and Seth [Williams] have a special bond," Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said. "It was down to the end and that's the way this series has gone."
Auburn (3-2) rallied from a 28-27 deficit on its final offensive series, covering 80 yards in six plays. Williams, finishing with eight catches for 134 yards, caught Nix's pass in front of the Auburn sideline, twisted away from two tacklers and turned up the sideline to easily race for the decisive touchdown.
"I looked around to see who was around me, and I saw the end zone and kept running," Williams said. "That last drive, everybody just came out with the mind-set that we weren't going to lose."
Ole Miss (1-4) reached the Auburn 29 in the final 10 seconds.
Auburn forced an incomplete pass, then preserved the win on a game-ending Ole Miss infraction as quarterback Matt Corral advanced past the line of scrimmage before throwing a desperation pass that would have counted as a Jordyn Peters interception without the penalty.
"There's no pixie dust, you know? You've got to make more plays than they do and execute the situation," Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin said. "That's what winning teams do. It's a very disappointing loss. Tough to swallow because it was right there."
Tank Bigsby had touchdown runs of 4 and 18 yards, and finished with 129 yards on 24 carries as the Tigers finished with a turnover-free 462 yards of total offense. Nix finished 23-of-30 passing for 238 yards, with the biggest plays reserved for Williams.
"We knew with two minutes and 30 seconds, we could go down and make big things happen," Nix said. "Seth made a great play. We just never lost hope."
Corral had touchdown runs of 5 and 10 yards and was 16-of-27 passing for 154 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore. Jerrion Ealy had a 5-yard touchdown run to give Ole Miss a 28-27 lead with 5:43 left, setting up Auburn's game-winning drive.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 48,
TENNESSEE 17
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Losing their most dynamic player left Alabama in no mood to celebrate -- not even a big win over a longtime rival.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle broke his right ankle on the opening kickoff, about the only thing that didn't go the Crimson Tide's way in a victory over Tennessee.
Mac Jones threw for 387 yards and ran for a touchdown, and Najee Harris ran for three more TDs as No. 2 Alabama added the 14th consecutive win in this rivalry.
The Crimson Tide (5-0) outgained Tennessee 587-302. But playing the Vols proved costly for Alabama for a second consecutive season. A year ago, Tua Tagovailoa hurt an ankle in the second quarter and missed the next game against Arkansas.
On Saturday, Waddle rolled his right ankle as he was tackled on the opening kickoff and was taken by cart to the locker room. Waddle came out after catching the ball deep in the end zone, something coaches usually don't want. But Alabama Coach Nick Saban said he trusts the judgment of the talented player.
Saban said Waddle has a similar injury to what Kenyan Drake had with a high ankle sprain with a fracture that probably will need surgery. Waddle will be flown back privately with doctors and taken to Birmingham to see if surgery is needed right away.
Tennessee (2-3) forced Alabama to punt on its opening drive. That was as close as the Vols would get in losing their seventh in a row in this series in Neyland Stadium. Coach Jeremy Pruitt, now 0-3 against his old boss, said he's obviously disappointed. Saban improved to 23-0 against his former assistants.
MISSOURI 20, KENTUCKY 10
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Larry Rountree carried 37 times for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns, leading Missouri to a victory over Kentucky.
The Tigers (2-2) played stingy defense and converted enough third- and fourth-down plays to control the ball with lengthy drives. Missouri held the ball for 43 minutes and ran 56 more plays than the Wildcats (2-3).
Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak completed 21 of 30 passes for 201 yards, and Jalen Knox caught 5 passes for 60 yards. Missouri converted 10 of 20 third downs and 4 of 5 fourth downs.
Kentucky shuffled two quarterbacks and finished with just 145 yards. Terry Wilson hit Josh Ali with a 26-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but that was one of the few highlights. Christopher Rodriguez rushed nine times for 48 yards.
LSU 52, SOUTH CAROLINA 24
BATON ROUGE -- LSU freshman TJ Finley passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns in his college debut, Trey Palmer scored on a 95-yard, sideline-to-sideline kickoff return and the Tigers defeated South Carolina.
Filling in for injured starter Myles Brennan, Finley completed his first three passes and capped his first series with a 1-yard keeper for a touchdown. It was an auspicious start to a game in which Finley -- who was highly recruited out of Ponchatoula, La. -- delighted the Death Valley crowd of 21,855 by completing 17 of 21 passes, including touchdowns of 7 and 51 yards to Terrace Marshall Jr.
Marshall continued his torrid start to this season. He finished with 6 receptions for 88 yards and now has 27 catches for 532 yards and 9 touchdowns this season.
South Carolina was unable to maintain its form from a week earlier, when the Gamecocks beat Auburn for the first time since 1933. Collin Hill was 12 of 22 for 234 yards and 1 touchdown, but also was intercepted by Eli Ricks, who returned the ball 45 yards for the first of LSU's two non-offensive touchdowns during the game.
Running back Kevin Harris largely carried the Gamecocks' offensive with 126 yards and 2 TDs on 12 carries.
