Schedule gets busy now for 5-3 Ole Miss
Disturbing trends returned for Ole Miss in a 31-16 loss against Auburn prior to last week’s open date.
Now Rebels coach Matt Luke believes his team was able to clean up some things in the open date. Luke likes where his 5-3 team is after eight games with four games in 20 days coming up to close the season.
Given Auburn’s recent struggles the Rebels stood a fair chance for an upset win in a series dominated by the Tigers.
Auburn, though, found the Rebels’ run defense to be the soothing salve it needed, and the Tigers rushed for 269 yards averaging 5.8 yards per carry along the way.
Most of the heavy lifting was done by redshirt freshman JaTarvious Whitlow, who had 170 yards. The availability of Whitlow, who was slowed by a shoulder injury during the week, was a game-time decision.
Ole Miss is now giving up 217.9 rushing yards a game, last in the SEC by a wide margin and No. 113 nationally.
Defense, though ineffective in the big picture, wasn’t the biggest problem against Auburn.
The Rebels’ defense played above its head in the first half, limiting the Tigers to one touchdown and giving the Ole Miss offense a chance to take control in the game. It did not.
Three times in the first half and on their first possession of the third quarter the Rebels reached the Auburn 23 or better but came away with only three field goals.
Auburn led 10-6 at halftime, a win for the Rebels’ struggling defense which was then unable to keep pace in the second half as Auburn scored touchdowns on its first three possessions.
In the final count, the Ole Miss offense scored only one touchdown in four red zone trips, and that didn’t come until quarterback Jordan Ta’amu hit A.J. Brown with a 12-yard pass with two minutes and 24 seconds left in the game. The Rebels trailed 31-9 at the time.
The Rebels have struggled against some of the SEC’s better defenses, scoring just three touchdowns in 214 plays against Alabama, LSU and Auburn.
Ole Miss, which prides itself on its offense, will have to find a way to reverse that trend as it continues on without 6-foot-4, 230-pound wide receiver DK Metcalf, its top match-up threat.