For as much attention as Matt Corral rightfully warrants from opposing defenses, the single most important element to the Ole Miss offense is its ability to run the football.

The running game has been phenomenal at times this year and was the overarching reason Ole Miss beat Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU. But the Rebels have struggled to run the ball the past 2 weeks in a road loss at Auburn and an ugly home win over the Liberty flames. Last week, Ole Miss ran it for just 142 yards on 28 carries. Seventy of those yards came on one play when Jerrion Ealy broke open a long run and scored on the second play of the game. Beyond that, the Rebels struggled to generate consistent push up front.

“Not very good. (Jerrion’s) run was the only explosive run of the day,” Lane Kffin said. “I don’t think anyone in the stadium or on our sideline saw after that run how easy it was. He just stayed in stride on the second play of the game. No one would’ve guessed that that would have been our last explosive run of the day. That was very discouraging.”

Ealy led the team in yards and carries with 10 rushes for 115 yards. Snoop Conner was a non-factor in his 7 carries and Henry Parrish only ran it 3 times. The way this trio of running backs is used on a week-to-week basis is mystifying. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to it, but I am not even sure that is necessarily a problem or a bad thing. It seems to just be a product of the coaching staff trusting all 3 and riding the hot hand. It is certainly not the root cause of Ole Miss’ issues running the ball.

What is the root cause is mostly the injuries on the interior offensive line. Ole Miss started Jalen Cunningham at right guard against Liberty. Cunningham has spent the past 4 months playing defensive line after he converted from guard to defensive tackle in fall camp. Cunningham flipping back to offense and playing all 58 snaps likely means Jordan Rhodes, Cedric Melton and Bryce Ramsey — all reserve linemen thrust into action when Caleb Warren got hurt and have continued to contribute with the loss of Ben Brown — must have been battling some sort of injury. Rhodes was the only 1 of the 3 who registered a snap and he only played 2. The issues on the interior offensive line have certainly contributed to the team’s struggle in running the football, particularly inside runs.

It’s making the offense less effective in a variety of ways. It limits what Ole Miss can do in up-tempo situations. When the offense is rolling, how many times have you seen Ealy, or any of the backs, pop off a productive run, jump up immediately to hand the football to the spotting official and sprint to line up to run another play as Ole Miss breaks off a second productive play as the defense is still scrambling to get lined up. That strategy isn’t very effective when the initial play is blown up in the backfield. It’s also turning 2nd-and-5 into 2nd-and-10 or worse, which gets the offense off schedule and forces them to lean more on the passing game that features a depleted receiving corps.

The trickle-down effect has seeped into many other areas of the offense. It also hasn’t helped that Corral has been banged up and less of a consistent threat to run, which is another important part of this running game. He actually leads the Rebels in rushing yards, with 528. This is the No. 1 issue Ole Miss must do its best to solve with Texas A&M coming into town this week. The Aggies boast a talented, physical front seven that is more than capable of making Ole Miss a non-factor in the running game if it doesn’t play better in this capacity.

“It really looks like when you watch NFL defenses, where basically everyone is a really good player and looks right,” Kiffin said.

The Aggies are a top-30 run defense in terms of yards allowed and only allow 3.6 yards per rush. Ole Miss, particularly with the state of its receiving corps, isn’t going to compete with Texas A&M on Saturday night if it cannot muster a competitive running game. It’ll put pressure on Corral to move around and extend plays with his feet and force receivers to consistently get open and create separation. With Dontario Drummond and Jonathan Mingo’s status uncertain, and Braylon Sanders less than 100%, that is far from a recipe for success for Ole Miss.

The Rebels have a chance to notch a signature win on a massive stage on Saturday night. But they must ensure they are better running the football if they hope to have a shot to do just that.