After watching Georgia run all over Ole Miss last Saturday night, there’s some good news for the Rebels heading into this weekend’s game at Oklahoma.
The Sooners can’t run the football.
For an Ole Miss defense that just surrendered 295 rushing yards to Georgia, that’s a pretty encouraging development.
The Bulldogs averaged 6.1 yards per carry in their 42-7 demolition of the Rebels. It was the second time this season an opponent had rushed for nearly 300 yards against Pete Golding’s defense, with Florida piling up 302 yards in September.
Oklahoma isn’t Georgia or Florida when it comes to running the football. It’s not even particularly close.
The Sooners have averaged just 110.9 rushing yards per game this season, ranking 124th nationally and 15th in the SEC. They’re gaining only 3.2 yards per carry and have scored a grand total of three rushing touchdowns through nine games.
For comparison, Georgia has scored 22 rushing touchdowns this season. Ole Miss has scored 18.
And two of Oklahoma’s three rushing touchdowns came in its season opener against UTEP. The Sooners have scored just one rushing touchdown in their eight games since then, and none in their last four.
It gets worse.
Oklahoma has failed to reach 100 rushing yards four times this season, including a stretch of four consecutive games against New Mexico, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky.
Their best rushing performance came against Mississippi State, when they gained 184 yards. They also rushed for 170 against UTEP in the season opener.
Lloyd Avant is Oklahoma’s leading rusher with 394 yards on 92 carries, averaging 4.3 yards per attempt. Quarterback John Mateer is second with 201 net rushing yards, although that number includes yardage lost on sacks.
Needless to say, this is not an offense that has consistently imposed its will on opponents at the line of scrimmage.
For an Ole Miss defense that has struggled mightily against the run at times this season, that should be welcome news.
But there’s a catch.
Oklahoma has a new offensive play-caller, and the early results suggest things might be changing
Brent Venables fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle after the Sooners’ loss to South Carolina and turned the offense over to former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.
Witten’s debut came last Saturday against Florida, and Oklahoma rushed for 144 yards on 40 carries in a 23-7 victory.
That’s not exactly an offensive explosion, but it was a noticeable improvement over the 106.8 rushing yards per game Oklahoma averaged in its eight games under Arbuckle.
The Sooners also averaged 3.6 yards per carry against Florida, compared with 3.2 under Arbuckle.
Perhaps the biggest difference was the involvement of Mateer, who led Oklahoma with 56 rushing yards on 14 attempts. That was his highest rushing total of the season.
That could create an entirely different challenge for the Rebels.
And while Oklahoma’s 144 rushing yards against Florida weren’t particularly impressive, the Sooners did put together a 20-play, 89-yard touchdown drive that consumed nearly 13 minutes of the second half.
That’s the kind of offensive possession that can wear down a defense, even without many explosive plays.
So, yes, the numbers suggest Ole Miss is finally getting a favorable matchup against an opponent’s running game.
But the Rebels probably shouldn’t get too comfortable with that idea.
After all, Oklahoma might be figuring out how to run the football at precisely the wrong time for Ole Miss.
