“It just means more.” It bangs loudly in the ear of any fan of any team in the SEC. Well, as annoying as the statement can be, this week can’t be summed up any more clearly.

Playoff hopes hang in the balance. Austin Simmons, Cayden Lee, and Chris Graves return to face their former schools. So does former Missouri halfback, Kewan Lacy.

For both teams, the biggest game of the year is the one on tap, week in and week out. For Missouri specifically, standing at 5-1, the Tigers can only manage one more loss for the rest of the season. The same goes for the Rebels, following a slaughter in Gainesville a few weeks ago.

Now, both teams are hungry. Mizzou wants to get a signature road win to give them momentum heading into the bye week. Ole Miss is looking to do the same, but they are staring down the barrel of a showdown in Austin against the Texas Longhorns.

When you talk about this Rebels squad, you’d be silly not to bring up Trinidad Chambliss first. The 5th-year QB was pivotal in leading last year’s team to the college football playoff semifinal. He also is the guy who ran away with Austin Simmons’s starting job, following his injury last year.

So far this season, Chambliss has posted 1,435 yards through the air, along with 11 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That yardage total is just one above Simmons ‘, funny enough.

Chambliss has been terrific as expected, but he has thrown an interception in every game, apart from the week two contest against Charlotte at home. That is how Chambliss plays, however. He’s a gunslinger, an improviser, and will make several throws that make you audibly laugh in shock. But there is usually one per game where he puts that ball in harm’s way, and Missouri’s defense has to capitalize on that if the opportunity arrives.

You guys remember Kewan Lacy? Well, he played at Mizzou as a true freshman, seeing little time on the field, as he notched 23 carries for 104 yards. Last year, Lacy made his grand entrance and made sure that everybody knew his name. The once-Tiger ran the ball 306 times for 1,567 yards, along with a staggering 24 touchdowns. Rightfully so, he was in the Heisman discussion for all of last season.

Lacy has battled injury throughout the year, missing the game against Florida. Lacy did make his return against Vanderbilt, getting 7 carries for 39 yards.

Ole Miss’s receiving room is led by Deuce Alexander, who has 503 yards amassed thus far, as well as five touchdowns. For the rest of the receiving room, it’s by committee. Wide receiver Traylon Ray and tight end Caleb Odom virtually share the same stats, with 17 receptions and 231 yards and 230 yards respectfully. Horatio Fields, who was committed to Mizzou over the summer, has 17 receptions for 190 yards.

The Rebels pass defense has just been a tad below average this season. The team ranks 81st in the country, allowing 214 yards per game. Their run defense is where Missouri could have the edge in this contest. Ole Miss is giving up 176.4 YPG on the ground, making them the worst run defense in the conference thus far. Jamal Roberts is dancing reading that stat as we speak.

So, how can Missouri get a signature road win on Saturday at Vaught? Here are my three keys:

1. “Run the dang ball Bert!”

Jamal Roberts has had over 200 yards in two straight games. That puts him in the company of Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette. Those guys were pretty good, right? DUH.

Following the game against A&M, Eli Drinkwitz made the analogy of a boxing match when talking about the patience of the Missouri run game. He said that the Missouri o-line wears teams down, which allows Jamal to break those long runs late in the game. Given the Ole Miss struggles against the run, there may not be a better game for that strategy.

Am I saying that Missouri will have another 200 yards on the ground? Unlikely. However, it is possible given how they’ve been playing. If Missouri can run the ball chunk by chunk and keep an explosive Rebels offense off the field, that’ll give the Tigers a massive edge.

2. Limit the “off-script” from Chambliss

What does Trinidad Chambliss do exceptionally well? Basically everything. The one thing that he excels at over just about anybody, however, is his ability to improvise. This is a word and concept that has been thrown around plenty in modern-day college football and often without substance. Chambliss is a representation of this word.

Chambliss lives for evading the pressure, throwing off your back foot 40 yards down the field type of play. He consistently will punish you with it. Missouri needs to play contain. Now, that isn’t to say that Chambliss can’t beat them in the pocket, because he can torch anybody from that area. However, playing contain allows Missouri the best chance to make Chambliss uncomfortable.

We’ve seen the Missouri pass rush get home the last few weeks. Guys like Daeden Hopkins, Langden Kitchen, and Donta Simpson Jr. have been terrific thus far. This needs to be their biggest game yet.

3. A slow start will lose you this game:

Want to hear a stat that’ll make you barf? Missouri has scored a whopping 17 points in the first quarter, all season. Mind you, 14 of those came in week one against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. The slow starts have rolled on, and again and again, Drinkwitz has talked about needing to get out of the rut.

The Ole Miss offense is elite. Starting slow will pin you down early, and for Missouri to effectively run the ball this game and attempt to control the clock, it can’t play from behind.

Ole Miss hasn’t put on offensive clinics in the first quarter, but they have put up 31 points through 5 games, showing the ability to at least put something on the board. That is, quite frankly, an area where Missouri has missed the mark. I think for Missouri to win this game, that first scripted drive is critical.