The Ole Miss Rebels are coming off an ugly 42-7 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday. As a result, they fell to No. 19 in the CFP rankings and also have their playoff hopes on life support.

With the Oklahoma Sooners next, the Rebels have to get better at doing one thing: running the ball.

What Happened to the Rebels' Running Game Against Georgia?

Sure, the Rebels are without superstar running back Kewan Lacy. Lacy is the engine behind the running game's success over the past two seasons.

Yet, the Rebels still have a lot of talent left in the running back room, talent that has shown flashes of brilliance without Lacy. Lacy is important, but losing him shouldn't prove fatal to the Rebels' running game.

Against Georgia, Ole Miss had just 66 yards on 31 carries - a pretty pathetic showing from a team that had run for 224 yards against the Auburn Tigers. The Tigers, by the way, beat the now No.1 Bulldogs just weeks earlier. Without a run game, Ole Miss was dominated in the trenches and lost all control of the game.

The performance in this area of the offense puts way too much on quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who simply can't be asked week after week to rescue the Rebels. Is Chambliss a superstar capable of doing a lot of work? Yes. But is he also a human? Yes, as well.

So, what happened to the Rebels' running game against Georgia? The unprepared Rebels didn't block at all against the Bulldogs, frankly. Without effective blocking, what is the RB supposed to do? The execution of running plays was also awful, especially by receivers who couldn't block worth a dime.

The pass protection was so bad that Chambliss took a 16-yard sack late in the second half while down 28-0; on the next play, he had no chance of doing anything, and in trying to throw the ball away, he threw a pick. The Rebels technically showed up Saturday, but at the same time, they didn't.

The Rebels Can Run the Ball Effectively Against Oklahoma

Despite this showing against Georgia, the Rebels have plenty of talent and can run effectively against the Sooners. Let's hope this last game has awakened the Rebels.

Oklahoma has been a strange team this season. A lot of people saw the Sooners as a dangerous team coming into the season, but after a 51-0 win against the UTEP Miners to begin the season, the Sooners lost in ugly fashion against a bad Michigan Wolverines team 17-10.

They've had ugly losses to Georgia (41-13), Kentucky (21-13), and South Carolina (42-25), but have also beaten two ranked teams: No. 1 Texas (27-24) and No. 24 Florida (23-7). The Sooners haven't been a good team this season, but their elite defense has kept them in a lot of contests they otherwise would've lost.

The Rebels might struggle to run the ball again, but they still have talented Sheka Mills-Knight, former starting running back Makhi Frazier, and even Joshua Dye. Few teams have that kind of depth and talent. The Rebels have gotten plenty of good moments from those guys this season, and it's important to remember that.

When Ole Miss takes the field against Oklahoma, it can't struggle to run the ball. The Rebels can't play into the Sooners' hands, who want to ruin Ole Miss's chances in 2026.

Clearly, Lacy's injury has hurt this team dramatically. But in college football history, great teams don't collapse after an injury; they stay composed and remain nearly as strong as before. The Rebels can address Lacy's loss and need to find a way to establish the line of scrimmage against Oklahoma.