Why Ole Miss Rebels Are Difficult Contender to Trust

Another week, another step closer to Ole Miss winning out, playing for the SEC title and potentially blocking the SEC from a College Football Playoff berth.

The Rebels survived a scare from Auburn on Saturday in a 27-19 road win on the Plains.

Any road win in the SEC is a good win, but make no mistake, there were enough red flags for Ole Miss in this game to fill the city of Oxford.

As Dan Wolken of USA Today noted, head coach Hugh Freeze's play-calling was suspect:

This was an Auburn team that boasted a quarterback in Sean White who was a game-time decision after he was knocked around last week in a four-overtime loss to Arkansas. White was visibly slowed by a knee injury, suffered from perhaps the worst play-calling of head coach Gus Malzahn's career and his defense played like a sieve.

Despite all that, the Tigers could have tied it up at the end on Jeremy Johnson's Hail Mary and a subsequent two-point conversion attempt that never materialized.

Why?

Standard Ole Miss football, which makes the Rebels (7-2, 4-1) difficult to trust.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Freeze's crew managed just 156 rushing yards against Auburn, which entered the game allowing 199.9 yards per game on the ground. It couldn't convert several short third and fourth downs and struggled with a defensive line that, while better thanks to the return of "Buck" Carl Lawson, hardly strikes fear in the hearts of opposing offensive linemen.

As Jon Solomon of CBSSports.com noted, that's the reason Freeze has been forced to get creative in short-yardage situations and put players like defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche and offensive lineman Jeremy Liggins in at running back throughout the year.

That futility is par for the course for Ole Miss. 

It came in averaging 3.4 yards per rush against conference opponents, and that's after it ripped off 4.5 per carry in a win over Texas A&M last week.

Are the Rebels really going to win out against Arkansas, LSU and Mississippi State?

Not if they can't run the football, and certainly not if they hand the ball over as consistently as they have thus far. 

Butch Dill/Associated Press/Associated Press

Quarterback Chad Kelly threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn but also tossed two interceptions, bringing his total to 12 on the year—the most in the conference.

Ole Miss is one-dimensional, and it makes consistent mistakes within that one dimension.

Kelly has thrown nine touchdowns and eight picks versus conference opponents, hasn't had a game without a pick since the win over Alabama in Week 3 and, while explosive, is far too mistake-prone.

Despite those issues, the Rebels seem to find a way. That's commendable and what quality teams should do. 

But Freeze's crew is living dangerously this year, and Ole Miss has to get better in those two areas if it is going to play in its first-ever SEC Championship Game.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.