Ole Miss owns unique set of rushing statistics entering Saturday’s game
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Ole Miss is currently at 2-4 on the season, with a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time this year as it hosts South Carolina in Oxford at 6:30 pm CT. The Rebels haven’t been bashful about putting points on the board—they have averaged 38 points a game thus far in 2020—but they have allowed 40.6 as the win against Vanderbilt on Oct. 31 was the only time they have held an opponent to fewer than 33 points.
The success of the Ole Miss offense and lack of success on defense has, in part, hinged on how well it is running the football and how difficult it has been for it to prevent others from doing so. ESPN college football analyst Cole Cubelic unearthed an interesting set of numbers illustrating that point:
Ole Miss leads the SEC in rushing at 216 ypg
Ole Miss is last in the SEC in rush defense at 231 ypg
A conundrum I am not quite certain I have seen before.
(VT is currently 1st & 14th FWIW)
— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) November 12, 2020
A prime example of this is the Rebels’ Oct 3 game against Kentucky, during which they allowed the Wildcats to record 408 rushing yards, a week before giving up 306 to Alabama. However, the Rebels also had a string of 3 games with 242 or more yards on the ground.
Ole Miss fans are hoping that Saturday’s game doesn’t turn out like several others this year and that the Rebels defense can limit the damage the Gamecocks can inflict on the ground.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
