When Auburn hosts Ole Miss Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Rebels arrive with the second-best rushing offense in the SEC. Its rushing attack has been averaging 232.5 yards per game on the ground and has rushed for an SEC best 1,383 yards and 11 touchdowns in conference play this season.
"Offensively, they're second in our league in rushing, a lot of explosive runs, a whole lot," Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said at his Tuesday press conference.
Not only do the Rebels have the second-best rushing offense in the SEC, Ole Miss also leads the nation in explosive runs of 30 yards or more with 14 of them.
Auburn’s defense is no stranger to facing teams that like to run the ball this season. They have faced two teams this season that featured the SEC’s leading rusher going into the game against Auburn, in Rakeem Boyd and Kylin Hill for Arkansas and Mississippi State respectively. Those two combined for 30 carries against Auburn for 84 yards.
Ole Miss has no lead running back, however. The Rebels use a committee approach in establishing the run. Auburn linebacker Chandler Wooten knows that stopping the run is extremely important this week, just like it is every week.
“They present a lot of different problems defensively,” Wooten said. “The way they run the ball, good receivers outside, just the way they run the ball. That’s going to be a big point of emphasis this week you know trying to stop the run. That’s an emphasis every week trying to stop the run as best as we can, that’s going to be a big key this week.”
The Rebels’ committee approach not only involves running backs Scottie Phillips and Jerrion Ealy, but also true freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee’s 508 rushing yards on the season are an Ole Miss program record.
Ole Miss offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez's system uses a two-quarterback system and have since the Missouri game earlier in the year. Plumlee and redshirt freshman Matt Corral have been alternating snaps, with the true freshman primarily being used in running situations and Corral more in passing situations.
Plumlee leads all SEC quarterbacks in rushing yards this season but left the Texas A&M game early with a knee injury. He is, however, expected to play against Auburn this weekend.
Malzahn has been impressed with what he’s seen from Plumlee this season. The signal caller attempted to recruit Plumlee last year when he took an official visit.
“Well he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands and he’s had a lot of explosive runs,” Malzahn said. “I think up until last week he was one of the top rushers in our league from a quarterback’s standpoint.”
No. 11 Auburn (6-2, 3-2 in SEC) hosts Ole Miss (3-5, 2-3 in SEC) this Saturday at 6 p.m. CST on ESPN.
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