Ole Miss seems to be opening up its offense more and more as the season rolls on, boasting one of the best rushing attacks in the nation and a passing offense that busted open for nearly 450 yards just a couple of games ago.

But anyone who knows good football knows that a team must play complementary football to be consistently successful in the long term. To put it simply, Ole Miss is not doing that, and it comes down to defensive performance.

Yes, there were the 2 forced fumbles with recoveries in the final minutes of the narrow win over Kentucky that pretty much determined the outcome. This unit has come up with some clutch plays at some key times like those. But looking at it game in and game out, there are things that need fixing.

Head coach Lane Kiffin has noted tackling as an issue more than once, and it played a pretty big role in the 48-34 win over Auburn becoming much closer than it should have. Plenty assumed Ole Miss would get off to a fast start and never look back in a blowout win, as it appears Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin is constantly in the brink of getting fired.

But that was not the case. The Rebels’ defense allowed too many explosive plays, giving Auburn the opportunity to turn the game into a shootout.

“We did not tackle well again this week,” Kiffin said after the game. “It led to a lot of explosive runs, and it is something we have to clean up. When they announced there was lightning within 8 miles of here, I said we don’t have a run defense within 8 miles of here. Hopefully, we have 30 minutes to go figure it out.”

And indeed, that was the case, as standout Auburn running back Tank Bigsby was able to get things churning for the offense, carrying the ball 20 times for 179 yards with 2 touchdowns.

That’s the most yards Ole Miss has allowed to a running back all season, though it has allowed a number near the century mark. The Rebels hold the No. 34 overall defense in the nation, allowing 346 yards per game and 4.85 yards per play. While that is not completely outstanding, it’s also not terrible, and it puts them ahead of several other FBS teams.

But Ole Miss has the No. 68 run defense, which puts it just ahead of the middle of the pack. The Rebels have allowed 144 rushing yards per game and 3.67 per play, 7 rushing touchdowns and a total of 1,008 rushing yards through 7 games.

Passing defense is a bit of a better story, as the team ranks No. 33 overall in that category, allowing of 202 passing yards per contest and 6.31 per play, 7 passing touchdowns and 1,414 total passing yards.

The Ole Miss red-zone defense is tied with Georgia State and Georgia Tech for 88th in the nation — far from where you want to be as one of the country’s highest-ranking teams. The Rebels have allowed 19 red-zone scores, including 6 rushing and 6 passing touchdowns.

The Rebels have shown they can steamroll opponents on the ground with arguably the best running back tandem in the nation in Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins. Quarterback Jaxson Dart has shown just how high his ceiling is, and he can help this team to “score from far” in addition to using his legs. Two of his targets, Malik Heath and Jonathan Mingo, have crossed the century mark through the air and shown tremendous upside.

But it’s time for this team to put it all together and play consistently solid defensive football to match its versatile offense. The Rebels are undefeated, but that will make the difference between a standout season and one that adds to the history Kiffin has already made in Oxford.