4 Main Storylines I'm Watching in Ole Miss' Week 9 Game Against Auburn – Sports Illustrated

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Following a 34-27 loss against the No. 11 Texas Longhorns, the No. 12 Ole Miss Rebels are looking to start a win streak this Saturday against the Auburn Tigers.
The Rebels have five games left in the regular season and will likely have to win all five to earn another berth in the College Football Playoff.
With the first of the five remaining games coming this Saturday against Auburn, let's take a look at four of the main storylines to follow heading into the game.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had one of the worst games of his career last Saturday night against Texas. He completed less than half of his passes and threw for two touchdowns and three interceptions, although the third interception came on a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the game.
Prior to that performance, Chambliss had been in the Heisman race and considered one of the premier quarterbacks in the country. However, Texas potentially exposed some weaknesses in his game that other teams could exploit.
Chambliss has the chance to prove the Texas game was a fluke, and he's still the elite QB he's been all season.
Texas didn't only shut down Chambliss. The Longhorns also completely erased Ole Miss star running back Kewan Lacy from the game. Before leaving the game with an injury, Lacy had just 36 rushing yards on 16 carries.
The injury Lacy suffered was a dislocated shoulder. As a result, he'll miss at least the Auburn game, potentially more.
Makhi Frazier has been the main running back to take his place this season. However, other rushers like Shekai Mills-Knight and JT Lindsey could see playing time.
Ole Miss benefits from having a dynamic offense that is dangerous both rushing and passing, but it's yet to be seen if the Rebels can properly replace Lacy's production in the running game.
Following the 52-28 loss to the No.17 Florida Gators in Week 4, it was obvious adjustments had to be made to Ole Miss' defense.
The Rebels followed up that embarrassing loss with two blowout wins over Vanderbilt and No. 23 Missouri in their next two games. Ole Miss' defense gave up a combined 20 points to those two teams.
Last week against Texas, while the defense didn't completely slide back to how it played against Florida, they did take a step back by allowing Texas to score 34 points. Even if there were bright spots like a defensive touchdown on a strip-sack from defensive end Blake Purchase and two interceptions from cornerback Jalyn Crawford, the defense still allowed the Longhorns to score four touchdowns and kick two field goals.
With Auburn being an unranked opponent, this week will be an opportunity for the defense to gain back some momentum it had been building against Vanderbilt and Missouri.
It will likely take at least a 10-2 regular season for any team to make the College Football Playoff. For Ole Miss to reach that record, they need to win the next five games against Auburn, No. 3 Georgia, Oklahoma, Wofford and Mississippi State.
The biggest challenge of those five should be Georgia, whom the Rebels face next Saturday, Nov 7. Ole Miss will want to carry as much momentum as possible into that matchup, which means the Rebels will want a strong victory over Auburn.
Although Auburn is unranked, it is the only team with a victory over Georgia this season. Even in a sport with as many upsets and as much parity as college football, beating the Tigers should help instill confidence in an Ole Miss team that may be lacking it after taking a second loss of the season.
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Jaydon Koss is a staff writer for Ole Miss on SI. He is a freshman journalism major at Ole Miss from Petal, MS. Prior to joining SI, he previously worked in community news at RHCJC News in Hattiesburg and shot live sports as part of the production team during his time at Petal High School. You can find Koss on social media channels at @jaydonmkoss.
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