Film Room: How Auburn's defensive strategy made a huge difference at Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin's offense has thrived on hitting explosive passing plays. Kevin Steele's defense took that away, and it's a big reason why Auburn is now 3-2.

LB Zakoby McClain (Justin Ford/USA Today Sports)

Last year, Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele used a defensive strategy against LSU’s record-smashing offense that was later imitated, but never truly duplicated.

The Tigers decided to attack Joe Brady, Joe Burrow and company by going away from their base four-man defensive front and using just three down linemen. They also used just one linebacker and flooded the field with seven defensive backs.

The strategy worked, as Auburn held LSU to its fewest yards per play (5.77) and points scored (23) in an otherwise dominant run to the national championship.

On Saturday, Steele tweaked that formula when squaring off with the latest offensive mastermind to hit the SEC West — first-year Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.

Heading into the Week 5 matchup, Ole Miss had averaged 7.86 yards per play against Florida, 6.85 against Kentucky and 7.52 against Alabama. It took seven Rebels turnovers against Arkansas for the red-hot offense to cool down, a…