10/29 at 04:02 AM

It’s been a puzzling week for both head coaches as Ole Miss prepares to play Auburn.

Houston Nutt is trying to figure out what happened to his Rebels during their second-half collapse against Arkansas last week.

Gene Chizik is trying to figure out why Ole Miss is three games below .500.

“It’s the best 2-5 team in the country,” Chizik said. “They’re very dangerous, and they’re very good in a lot of different ways. … They’re probably a play here or a play there away from winning five or six football games.

“I think the record is not indicative of how good they are. They’re a very good football team.”

However, Ole Miss’ 0-4 record in the SEC speaks for itself, culminating in a disappointing loss to the 10th-ranked Razorbacks this past week.

The Rebels jumped out on Arkansas 17-0 in the first half at home, stunning the SEC’s leading offense. However, they weren’t able to hold the Razorbacks down for long, as Arkansas ripped off 29 unanswered points to win 29-24.

And Ole Miss could do nothing to stop it.

“The same fire and attitude that we come out with in the first quarter has to be the same in the third quarter,” Nutt said. “The first 5 minutes of the game and the first 5 minutes of the third quarter are so important. You cannot look for things to go wrong. You have to expect good things.

“That is the way you started the game and that is the way you want it to finish.  We have been talking really hard on that.”

Nutt’s also working hard on not letting last week’s loss affect the Rebels this week.

“When you don’t have success it is easy to fall into that mindset of either something bad is going to happen or something bad is going to happen even when good things are going on,” the head coach said. “We have to have the mindset that good things are going to happen.  Guys are going to make plays. We are going to win. We have to keep believing that. That is the mindset of the coaches and the players. We have to keep believing that and playing for 60 minutes.”

Auburn knows a thing or two about not letting a bad loss carry over to the next game.

The Tigers were handed their worse loss in three years by No. 1 LSU in Baton Rouge last week, 45-10.

An “anemic” blocking performance by the offensive line and a handful of mental mistakes on defense turned Auburn’s upset bid into a beatdown at the hands of the Bayou Bengals.

But Auburn, like Ole Miss, is determined to not let last week’s game dictate this week’s matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium. They’re both focused on the task at hand.

Ole Miss has got to stop Auburn’s rushing attack, which, despite the Tigers’ lack of consistent offensive output and points, is still fourth in the conference (183.2 yards per game) and led by the dynamic duo of Mike Dyer and Onterio McCalebb.

Dyer is third in the conference, averaging 101.5 points per game, while McCalebb has turned into a dual threat that can hurt you running the ball — averaging 5.6 yards per carry — or catching the ball out of the backfield — 10.9 yards per catch.

“We talked hard … about being better tacklers and better run fits, especially against Auburn,” Nutt said. “Michael Dyer is, of course, very good. They have speed guys as well with him, and you know they are going to run the football. That is no secret.”

Auburn, meanwhile, will have to key on speedster Jeff Scott, who has six touchdowns and averages 4.5 yards per carry at the running back spot, and dual threat quarterback Randall Mackey.

Mackey, who has shared time with Zack Stoudt behind center, has emerged as the Rebels’ top QB. Against Arkansas, Mackey threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 30 more yards and another score.

“I think they found themselves in exactly where they want to go in terms of quarterback,” Chizik said. “(Mackey’s) extremely athletic, very dangerous, a very good junior college player.”

Auburn will go with Clint Moseley again at quarterback for his second consecutive start.

Moseley had a rough first outing as a starter, as he was sacked six times against LSU. But when the sophomore did have time, he made some plays, finishing 12-for-20 passing for 145 yards and an interception.

“For his first game and being in an environment like that playing against a defense that was as good as they were, and him being under duress as much as he was, I think when he had opportunities to make plays, I thought he did a nice job of that,” Chizik said. “He’ll continue to improve, I don’t think there’s any question about that, and we expect him to do that this week.”