AUBURN, Ala. — For the second straight week, the Ole Miss offense was out of sync. The No. 24-ranked Rebels couldn’t get any rhythm and fell to Auburn 30-22 on Saturday night.
The Rebels had no problem moving the ball, as they put up 464 yards of total offense, but this wasn’t the same Ole Miss offense we saw the first three weeks of the season.
They couldn’t run the ball, and they didn’t have time for receivers to get down field. The common factor? The offensive line.
“We lost a lot of one-on-ones,” Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said. “When you feel like you have to abandon the run a little bit they certainly can tee off and that happened a lot. We certainly feel like we got beat quite a few times. The thing that is disappointing is that not only did you get beat, but you got beat quick off the ball and there is nothing that you can really do with the football. I felt like we could have won some one-on-ones.
“They played a lot of man-on-man coverage just like everyone has done here lately. We had people open. We did drop some balls and made some plays here and there, but you have got to protect. We did not protect very well. They really did not blitz us hard.”
There you go. Auburn did not show Ole Miss a lot of blitzes, but the Tigers still managed to sack junior quarterback Bo Wallace six times. That’s the most sacks Auburn has had since 2005. The Rebels have now given up 15 sacks this season.
“Any time you give up that many sacks, it goes back to down and distance, and us being behind the chains a lot in third-and-long situations,” offensive line coach Matt Luke said. “I thought we had an opportunity to win the game (on the last drive), and we just didn’t get it done. We got to get back to work.”
The constant pressure Auburn had on Wallace made him appear uneasy in the pocket, and the Rebels tried everything, including rolling Wallace out of the pocket multiple times.
However, nothing seemed to work. The Pulaski, Tenn., native was forced into rushing throws, running for minimal gains and throwing the ball away. It undoubtedly was partly due to the constant missed opportunities from Ole Miss, and Wallace seemed noticeably upset about it after the game.
“It was very frustrating,” Wallace said. “The defense gave us a lot of opportunities to win, and we didn’t capitalize on them.”
The offensive line woes also slowed down the Ole Miss rushing attack for the second straight week. Auburn, at times, moved its defensive ends out wide, forcing the Rebels to run the ball up the middle, but they couldn’t.
Ole Miss ended the game with 124 rushing yards, and senior running back Jeff Scott had 68, most of which came on a 52-yard scamper.
The Rebels were unable to run the read-option very well, and when your offense is designed to run everything out of that, it’s not a recipe for success.
“We’ll have to look at the tape, come back and fix what’s broken,” Luke said. “We’ve had a rough road stretch here. It’s time to get back home and prepare for Texas A&M.”
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss football, follow @DavidLCollier and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
