OXFORD – The numbers for Ole Miss’ rush defense last weekend are a bit more complicated than initially meets the eye. That makes the results even tougher for the Rebels to stomach.

After surrendering 142 rushing yards in two games against Vanderbilt and Missouri since their bye week – which came on the heels of Florida’s 300-plus yard rushing effort – Ole Miss surrendered 207 rushing yards in a 34-27 loss at Texas.

The Rebels (5-2, 3-2 SEC) gave up 87 rushing yards in the first half but held the Longhorns to minus-1 rushing yard in the third quarter. Texas ran for 121 yards in the fourth quarter alone, however, on better than 10 yards per carry. The Longhorns had seven rushes of 10 or more yards in the game (160 yards gained on those runs), and five of those came in the fourth quarter. Outside of the seven long runs, Texas logged 47 rushing yards on 35 carries.

Of those 121 fourth-quarter rushing yards, 75 came on two carries from running back Raleek Brown – a 47-yarder and a 28-yarder – that largely took the air out of the Rebels’ sails. Brown, who finished with a game-high 157 rushing yards, entered the fourth quarter with 70 yards on the ground. It was Brown’s first 100-yard rushing game of the season.

“Going back and really breaking the film down, they had like 100 or something-plus yards on two rushes in the whole game, really,” senior defensive end Blake Purchase said. “So, I look back at those plays, it’s just like little mistakes and just leveraging the ball, taking good angles on tackles. I think just really getting the ball carrier down is the biggest difference I saw in the fourth quarter than the first three.”

Ole Miss’ defense was the spark that ignited the Rebels’ 21-point rally in Austin, Texas, as Purchase’s sack fumble of Arch Manning and recovery by junior Kam Franklin in the end zone marked their first touchdown of the game. After trailing 24-3 at halftime, the Rebels tied the game at 24-24 early in the fourth quarter before Brown and Texas’ run game helped lead the Longhorns to victory.

The Rebels missed 10 combined tackles against Vanderbilt and Missouri, according to Pro Football Focus; they missed 12 tackles against Texas, per PFF.

“There’s 121 of their rushing yards … in the fourth quarter, from the 10:30 mark on,” Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding said. “ … It’s two plays, with vice tackles in the hole. And so I’m not mad that we missed the tackle. They’re not perfect, they’re going to miss tackles. It’s how we miss the tackle. … And it’s those things that we go week in and week out and you drill it and you do it over and over and over.

“ … It’s one thing if it’s not the right scheme, it’s one thing if we didn’t call the right thing. But you have a responsibility as well. So, we’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re putting the right guys in those situations at critical moments.”

Ole Miss hosts Auburn (4-3, 2-3) on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

Source: Yahoo Sports