STARKVILLE — The Ole Miss offense has a well-deserved national reputation. It is third in the Southeastern Conference and fifth in the nation in yards per play, only Oklahoma has generated more plays of 20 yards or more and no one has generated more plays of 30 yards or more.
Yet, the Rebels rank 123rd in the nation, 13th in the SEC, in red zone offense. Moving the ball is one thing, but finishing the drive is another. If No. 22 Mississippi State (7-4, 3-4 SEC) is to win at 6:30 p.m. today (ESPN), it will need to keep that trend going.
Ole Miss (5-6, 1-6 SEC) has created a touchdown on just 27 of its 53 trips to the red zone, 50.94 percent of the time. It has converted on field goals with enough regularity to the point that its scoring percentage is 88.68 percent when including the 20 red zone field goals, but the inability to consistently produce touchdowns has hurt the Rebels at inopportune times.
Seven red zone trips produced just one touchdown in last week’s overtime loss to Vanderbilt; in a four-point loss to South Carolina two weeks prior, nine red zone trips only produced five touchdowns. When including the loss to Auburn, those three games ended with 14 red zone trips resulting in something other than a touchdown.
“I think you have to find ways to run the quarterback to get your numbers right, and then you have to make plays,” Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said. “You can’t have drops, you have to be able to execute. The field shrinks down there and there’s a lot of man-to-man, so you have to win your 1-on-1s and you have to pound the ball in there.
“We have to find a way to get touchdowns, but I think it’s execution for us. There is no one certain thing. It’s getting down there, executing and maybe using (quarterback) Jordan Ta’amu in the run game a little more to even the numbers up.”
Running through MSU’s red zone defense is a challenging proposition.
The Bulldogs lead the SEC and the nation by allowing opponents to score a touchdown on just 25.81 percent of its red zone trips. Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said in October MSU’s red zone success is a matter of communication and physicality.
Luke sees that on film as the staff tries to find a way through — it’s possible the Egg Bowl depends on it.
“They had a big goal-line stand against Alabama and I think they didn’t give up a running touchdown all year at home, so very formidable against the run,” Luke said. “This is our last game, we have to find a way to get it down.
“Sometimes it comes down to a matter of want-to and big boying up down there and pounding it in. I think we’ll have to do that some to win this game.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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