Offensive struggles frustrate Ole Miss

TUSCALOOSA | BenJarvus Green-Ellis brings a couple of distinctions into this Saturday’s Alabama-Ole Miss game in Oxford, Miss.

First, he has the most names of anyone in the game, surpassing even Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson. But the other thing Green-Ellis will be carrying, aside from the four names, is a chip on his shoulder.

The Ole Miss running back — one of the better rushers in the Southeastern Conference — has been outspoken about the Rebels’ offensive struggles this season. His numbers have been good — he’s the No. 5 rusher in the SEC with 570 yards in six games. But the Rebels (2-4 overall, 0-3 in the SEC) rank last in the league in scoring offense (21.7 points per game) and in rushing offense. The team gains just 110 yards per game on the ground, which means that the remainder of the team adds only 15 yards per game to Green-Ellis’ efforts.

“We haven’t been very efficient so far this year,” Green-Ellis told reporters at the Ole Miss media day this week. “We’ve been in a lot of situations where I think we’ve been throwing the ball because we haven’t been able to run the ball successfully and take time off the clock and keep the defense off that field. You know, [the defense] has been on the field a lot this year.”

Mississippi coach Ed Orgeron dismissed questions about the Ole Miss running game brusquely at his weekly press conference, saying only that the Rebels “made a couple of mistakes” in their 24-0 win over Louisiana Tech last week. Despite the shutout win, Ole Miss rushed for just 65 yards in the game and netted just 232 yards of total offense.

“It’s just been frustrating, week in and week out,” Green-Ellis said.

“They put eight or nine men at the line, but that doesn’t matter. We don’t care what they’re playing. We have to be able to block it and run.”

“We need to have a better offensive game plan,” Orgeron said at his press conference.

Alabama has also had offensive problems coming into the game, which suggests another in a series of low-scoring defensive struggles between the Crimson Tide and the Rebels.

“The first thing we need to think about is ourselves and making sure we are playing the best we can play,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

“Their offense is not easy to prepare for. They have a very good quarterback [Seth Adams], a very good running back [Green-Ellis] and a very good receiver [Mike Wallace].”

Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner said the Rebels were not going to panic and abandon their running attack.

“If there was one certain thing breaking down, we’d make sure we got that fixed,” Werner told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. “We haven’t been as consistent as I’d hoped, and I think that’s for a number of different reasons. We’re all frustrated with not running the football. That’s what we do.”

CRIMSON TIDE offensive guard Justin Britt was not at practice on Thursday as he continued to spend time with his mother, who remains in critical condition after suffering head injuries in an accident on Saturday.

“We haven’t talked much publicly about the situation,” Saban said on his Thursday night radio call-in show. “We have some reason to be encouraged, based on what we have heard today. But we will give Justin the choice on whether he wants to make the trip to Oxford or not.

“This is a situation that shows how unimportant a football game can be when it comes to your family.”

Junior Marlon Davis is expected to replace Britt if he is not available for Saturday’s game.

OLE MISS is sponsoring a “Beat Bama Blue” promotion at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, encouraging Rebel fans to dress in blue attire for the 11:37 a.m. game.

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.