The No. 12 Ole Miss Rebels earned a critical SEC win over the Auburn Tigers on Saturday by a final score of 45-15, but the game was much closer than the final score seemed to indicate.

Ole Miss held a 14-9 advantage over the Tigers at halftime, and despite the low score, the Rebels defense struggled to get off the field on third downs in the first two quarters of the game. With just over six minutes left in the third quarter, Auburn scored a touchdown to cut the Ole Miss lead to 17-15, and the Tigers were a two-point conversion away from tying the game before the Rebels were able to pull away.

The Ole Miss defense has had its fair share of struggles through the first eight games of the season despite having a defensive-minded head coach at the helm now. So what questions still remain for the unit heading into a massive matchup against Georgia next week?

1. Getting Off the Field on Third Down

Ole Miss' defense struggled to get off the field on third down during the first half against Auburn. Against a team like Georgia, that can come back to bite you quickly.

The Rebels were rather successful at stuffing Auburn's rushing attack on first and second down, allowing just 63 yards on the ground during the game, but an inability to get to and contain quarterback Byrum Brown led to extended plays and the Tigers keeping drives alive on multiple occasions. There were also instances of missed assignments in the secondary, including on Auburn's first touchdown of the game on a pass to Chas Nimrod in the second quarter.

So far this season, teams are converting roughly 42 percent of third down attempts against the Rebels. That's not an absurdly poor number, but if Ole Miss wants to keep its home winning streak alive and stay firmly in the hunt of the College Football Playoff, its third down defense will need to be shored up this week.

2. Containing Mobile Quarterbacks

Byrum Brown is a mobile playmaker, using his legs to extend plays and take off, if necessary. Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton showed some of the same traits last week against Florida.

Stockton only accumulated 3.8 yards per carry, but that was good for 45 yards on 12 attempts. If Ole Miss allows Stockton to break contain on Saturday, he can make you pay both through the air and on the ground. Given the Rebels' troubles in the secondary at times this season, bottling up Stockton has to be a top priority for Pete Golding's unit this weekend.

In last season's Sugar Bowl matchup, Stockton only amassed 20 yards on the ground, but he did provide two rushing scores to go along with 203 yards passing. Stockton is dangerous, and limiting him is a must.

Overall Assessment

Ole Miss has the pieces on defense to be successful and has demonstrated that at times in 2026 (see the win over Missouri). But against Texas and again against Auburn, the unit has looked...not quite right, and at this juncture of the season, that's unacceptable, if you hope to make a playoff run.

This weekend is the biggest game of the Rebels' season thus far as a loss would likely put them on the wrong side of the bubble for the CFP. Ole Miss has shown an ability to rise to the occasion (especially at home) in recent years, but a matchup against Georgia is no cakewalk, regardless of where it's played.

If the Rebels hope to keep their playoff dreams on track, they have to get off the field on third down, contain Stockton's mobile ability and shore up assignment issues in the secondary. That plus a homefield advantage would put Ole Miss in a really strong position to pull off the upset this weekend and jolt some momentum back into the program that was lost with the loss to Texas two weeks ago.