Clearly Ole Miss needs to win Saturday in Fayetteville. The reasons are plenty, including the No. 12 Rebels needing to keep climbing the polls as the season reaches its halfway point. They need to break a two-game skid against the Razorbacks and need to continue to prove those lost leads against Florida State and Alabama are a thing of the past.

So Ole Miss needs to beat No. 22 Arkansas (4-2, 0-2), but furthermore, here are three things fans need to see in that victory.

1 . Continued rushing success

What the Rebels did against Memphis – 44 rushes for 263 yards and 4 TDs – wasn’t very Ole Miss-like. Had the Rebels been able to do any semblance of that against the Seminoles or Crimson Tide, the Playoff outlook would look vastly different this week. But all Ole Miss (3-2, 1-1) can do at this point is look forward. Senior Akeem Judd had his first career 100-yard game against Memphis, and junior Eugene Brazley looked like he was an original plan all along. Brazley averaged 9.5 yards per carry as he ran for 124 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He had big runs late that salted the game. That was missing earlier in the season. Ole Miss needs that to be more than an anomaly. The Rebels are still ranked 12th in the SEC in rushing.

2. Win another turnover battle

At one point this season, Ole Miss was 1-2 and minus-5 in turnover margin. No coincidence that in two straight wins over Georgia and Memphis, the Rebels were plus-4 in turnovers and are nearly even for the season. Two fumbles resulted in touchdowns in a 5-point loss to Alabama. Ole Miss had zero interceptions until Derrick Jones’ pick-six against Georgia and Zedrick Woods’ pick-six against Memphis. The Rebels picked Memphis QB Riley Ferguson three times. To put it in perspective, Alabama and Texas A&M — teams Ole Miss is chasing in the standings — are in the top three in the SEC in turnover margin, at plus-6 and plus-5, respectively.

3. Be at least as dominant as Alabama was against Arkansas

Alabama is a national measuring stick. The Crimson Tide beat Arkansas 49-30 last week. Even if for national narrative, Ole Miss needs to do what Alabama does. Austin Allen torched the Tide for 400 passing yards, but Alabama held the Razorbacks to 73 rushing yards on 36 carries, a minimal two yards per rush. Rawleigh Williams III entered the game second in the league in rushing and fell to third after only 46 yards on 12 carries, his lowest total of the season. Alabama is first in the SEC against the run. Ole Miss is 13th but with a solid showing Saturday can make a few more people believe. That may come in handy when comparing teams for postseason jockeying.

Bonus

Start to erase that 4th-and-25, lateral, fumble madness that blew Ole Miss’ shot to get to Atlanta for the first time. The chance is still there this season, albeit a long shot that depends as much on other teams as it does on the Rebels. But if the trend they have set in two straight wins continues, the Rebels will be doing their part in the equation.