Ole Miss left Auburn with a 45-15 win on Saturday, but the Rebels also left with a clear problem staring them in the face.
For much of the game, Auburn stayed on schedule on third down and kept drives alive when Ole Miss needed a stop. The Rebels had trouble getting the Tigers off the field, especially in the first half, and that kept the game tighter than the final score suggested until under four minutes remained in the third quarter.
That issue has shown up all season. Ole Miss is 12th in the SEC in third-down conversion percentage allowed at 42%, and the Rebels rank 13th in total third-down conversions allowed with 50. Only Kentucky and Florida have given up more.
Against Auburn, the problem was obvious right away. On the Tigers’ first two drives, they faced five third downs and came up short only once. That kind of resistance is what let Auburn hang around and is exactly the kind of thing Ole Miss cannot afford to repeat against better opponents.
The Rebels survived it because Auburn is a 4-4 team, and the Tigers did not fully cash in on those extended possessions. Still, giving up more than a 50 percent third-down conversion rate and holding a team to just nine points is not a formula Ole Miss can count on going forward. A drive like Auburn’s 12-play march that ended in a field goal could easily turn into seven points against Georgia.
There were signs Ole Miss can clean it up. The Rebels have already shown they can be much sharper on third down in isolated games, including against Texas, when they allowed far fewer completions than their season average. They carried some of that into the second half against Auburn, where they stopped the Tigers on third down right away and handled the situation better overall, even while allowing two long conversions.
That turnaround mattered. Once Ole Miss started getting Auburn off the field, the Rebels were able to build the kind of cushion that broke the game open in the fourth quarter. They forced Auburn’s defense back out there over and over, and the fatigue showed.
Now the challenge gets much bigger. Georgia is next, and Ole Miss will need to get the Bulldogs off the field if it wants any shot at winning. Georgia’s running backs can grind down the Ole Miss linebacking corps if the Rebels do not stop them when the chance is there.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Heads To Georgia With One Defensive Problem Looming
Ole Miss left Auburn with a 45-15 win that looked comfortable on the scoreboard, but the tape gave the Rebels a few reasons for concern. The defense had trouble getting off the field on third down and had a hard time keeping Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown from extending drives, even in a game that eventually tilted heavily in Ole Miss favor.
Those issues become a lot more pressing with Georgia next on the schedule, because the Bulldogs bring a different kind of test and a quarterback in Gunner Stockton who can punish lapses if the Rebels repeat the same mistakes. For a team with College Football Playoff hopes, the margin for error shrinks fast, and Ole Miss will need a cleaner defensive showing if it wants to leave Athens with its season momentum intact. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Opened The Chris Beard Era With A Statement
The Chris Beard era opened with the kind of pace and pressure Ole Miss has been trying to build around, as the Rebels rolled past Alcorn State in their season opener. Adam Clark set the tone with 17 points, Santiago Trouet added 15 off the bench, and the offense got plenty of easy looks from a defense that was active from the jump.
Ole Miss forced 26 turnovers and turned them into 39 points, a clear sign that the Rebels want to make opponents uncomfortable before they can get settled. The margin also reflected how well Ole Miss controlled the paint and the open floor, two areas that should tell a lot about how quickly Beards imprint is taking hold. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Smart Just Framed Georgias Biggest Ole Miss Problem
Kirby Smart spent part of the buildup to Georgias Week 10 trip to Ole Miss pointing directly at the problem the Rebels can present with Trinidad Chambliss. The Bulldogs coach praised the quarterbacks decision-making, accuracy and athleticism, and said Chambliss brings the kind of anticipation and experience that can make a defense work all night long. It is the sort of scouting report that usually sounds routine until it comes from a coach who has spent years preparing for every wrinkle a spread offense can throw at him.
For Ole Miss, the timing of that attention matters because this is the stage where Chambliss can turn a tough matchup into a defining one. Georgia knows what it is facing, and the Rebels know the spotlight will be on their quarterback when the game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Smarts comments only sharpen the sense that Ole Miss has a real chance to stress a defense if Chambliss stays poised and keeps making the right reads. [Read more 🡒]