Somehow Ole Miss has managed to field a team loaded with talent, yet with no room for error.

Another week has started with Ole Miss fans wondering what might have been, a 40-29 loss to No. 15 Auburn the latest setback in the 3-5 season.

That said, the teams Ole Miss is losing to are pretty good, too. The only team the Rebels have lost to that they also out-recruited is Arkansas.

According to the 247Sports Team Talent Composite, Ole Miss currently sits at No. 15. Ahead of the Rebels are Auburn (No. 7), Florida State (No. 5), LSU (No. 3) and Alabama (No. 1).

When you are in that recruiting group and playing the teams in the same group, one mistake is enough to change an outcome. Take Saturday, down 4 points in the fourth quarter, Chad Kelly and Evan Engram were inches away from connecting for a touchdown that might have meant an Ole Miss win. Instead, the next play was a pick and Auburn scored three plays later.

On an otherwise record-setting night for Kelly, that one misfire was costly.

“We battled toe-to-toe for most of the game, but like I said, for whatever reason in this game, you have years where the margin of error is so small,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “One or two plays make such a huge impact.”

Freeze mentioned being knocked out of field goal range on a 3rd-and-5 with a holding call. Ole Miss hasn’t been able to overcome plays like that. Yet opponents have been able to overcome three-touchdown leads and fourth-quarter deficits against the Rebels.

“Our season has been like that,” Freeze said. “We were extremely short-handed in some key spots. I was really proud of the effort our guys gave against a really quality opponent.”

True and true, but the team is also in need of some correcting.

The Rebels are a highlight tape through the air – leading the SEC with 325 passing yards per game. But running the football, they are next to last, also next to last in total defense.

“I think any time you set a vision for the program and that vision isn’t being met, you have to look at the stats. You have to look at the indicators at what the issues are,” Freeze said. “There is an issue there. So it is either the people or the process. It is my job to try to figure out, is it a combination? Is it the people? Will recruiting fix it? Do we need to work on our communication? I assure you there is no give-up on this staff or on us trying to address it.”

It has been a debacle that has Ole Miss looking like it will need to win the Egg Bowl just to make a bowl game.

Ole Miss has scored first in seven of its eight games this season and has yet to trail at halftime. Despite that, it is now 1-5 against ranked teams, 0-4 against SEC West ranked teams. Kelly and Engram are setting records by the week, but it hasn’t been enough.

The talent is there, but to keep up in the SEC West, it has to keep coming. It also has to figure out a way to limit mistakes and overcome them when they happen.