The Ole Miss Rebels lost four of their last six games in 2014, but still amassed a 9-4 record including four victories over 10-win foes. Here’s the five areas where Ole Miss needs to improve the most for next season.

1. Running the ball: The Rebels struggled to establish a consistent rushing attack all season, failing to uncover a featured back among its stable of once highly touted tailbacks. Ole Miss ran for the third-fewest yards among the SEC’s bowl-eligible teams, and with Mark Dodson and I’Tavius Mathers set to transfer from the team the run game could be in even greater jeopardy next season. However, Ole Miss will also be bringing a new starting quarterback up to speed, and in the meantime it will need a potent rushing attack to provide balance on offense as the team finds a new direction without Bo Wallace.

2. Protection: The Rebels offensive line, aside from All-American left tackle Laremy Tunsil, allowed the third-most sacks and the second-most tackles for loss of any team in the conference, resulting in an uninspiring rushing attack and an uncomfortable, mistake-prone quarterback in Wallace. Tunsil will be back in 2015 but he’ll spend much of the offseason recovering from a broken leg he suffered against TCU in the Peach Bowl. If the Rebels line can’t show growth and improvement in 2015, the offense could be in big trouble.

3. Limiting turnovers: The Ole Miss defense may have forced more turnovers than any other defense in the conference, but it also committed the second-most turnovers with 25 giveaways in 13 games. Wallace was the SEC’s leader in interceptions once again, and the Rebels turnovers routinely put its stellar Landshark defense in difficult situations in tight ballgames. Even if the Ole Miss offense is less dynamic in 2015 than it was in 2014, limiting giveaways could help the unit get back on track next season.

4. The return game: The Rebels did themselves no favors in the field position battle by boasting a bottom-three kickoff return unit as well as a bottom-three punt return unit in the SEC. Wallace and the offense were forced to sustain long drives time and time again, and with a turnover-prone quarterback lacking a rushing attack that was simply too much to ask by the end of the season. Markell Pack showed growth as a returner as the season progressed, and if he can continue that progression into his sophomore season in 2015 it would help the Ole Miss offense in a major way.

5. Place kicking: Between Gary Wunderlich and Andrew Fletcher, no team missed more field goal tries than the seven Ole Miss failed to convert in 16 attempts this season. The Rebels 56.3 percent success rate cost the team a number of points this season, and with a defense as stingy as the Landsharks were this season those points can make all the difference. Whether it develops Wunderlich or Fletcher or finds a new boot entirely, Ole Miss must solidify its kicking game to keep from wasting scoring opportunities again next season.