The Ole Miss offense continues to sputter as it tries to find its ‘identity’ in the run game

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Ole Miss was one of the most potent offenses in the country a season ago and now it looks like a car that cannot keep the battery charged for longer than a mile down the road.

The puttering offense has been something that the Rebels have been able to hide through the first three games as the level of competition was such that eventually it would break through. Saturday against an Alabama defense that was looking to prove a point that strategy was not going to work.

Ole Miss had its lowest production on the ground this season with 56 total rushing yards and a touchdown. The second time the run game has been held to less than 100 yards; the previous low was 89 yards at Tulane.

Coming off nearly 300 yards on the ground against Georgia Tech last week things looked to be trending the right way for the run game and leading man Quinshon Judkins. Saturday proved that was nothing but an outlier on the stat sheet, for now.

Judkins did lead the team with all of those 56 yards after a negative play of nine yards by Jordan Watkins erased six yards from Jaxson Dart and three more from Ulysses Bentley IV.

“We just have some new pieces,” Dart said when pressed what the current issues are with the run game. “I know we have some guys coming back but it just new guys playing with each other. Just little things. Like, if you watch the tape we’re really close to breaking some runs. We were close today, just had a few miscues. We’ll clean that up.”

Dart agreed with head coach Lane Kiffin that “this was the year to get” an Alabama team that looked mortal compared to previous Crimson Tide teams.

Of course getting that elusive and rare win at Alabama involves the Ole Miss offense clicking at max capacity.

Instead this is an offense that needs to 88 miles per hour but cannot keep enough plutonium to get the 1.21 jigawatts of energy needed.

Dart also noted that this Ole Miss offense needs to get back to its “identity,” which would most likely mean a threatening and intimidating rushing attack that would make opposing defenses have to respect it.

This would open up the passing game where Dart has looked more comfortable in managing this year. A more mature and confident Dart in the pocket means little when a defense knows he is going to throw it, somewhere, because there is not a rushing attack to speak of.

Saturday also saw key pieces of the offense make their season debuts or returns.

Tight end Caden Prieskorn played his first game with Ole Miss after missing the first three due to a toe injury. Wide receivers Tre Harris III and Zakhari Franklin also played after missing time due to injuries.

None of that trio proved impactful on Saturday, which there should have been major reason to assume they would all put up All-American stat lines in a first game back to live action.

This all comes back to the disappearing act of the Rebels run game, but also the inability to extend drives.

Ole Miss went 3-for-14 on third downs on Saturday. Now, the offense did manage to convert three of four fourth down attempts but that is not a strategy to live by.

“We got to coach better. Come up with better things,” Kiffin said.

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