OXFORD — At some point, it’s going to bite Ole Miss.

After Auburn scored on consecutive drives to cut the Rebels’ lead to 21-14, ESPN’s Billy Connelly, best known for his statistical analysis of college football, tweeted: “We’re making Auburn-Ole Miss about Auburn for obvious reasons, but it’s certainly fitting Ole Miss’ ‘Look like the best team in the country, then take 20 minutes off’ tendencies.”

Connelly isn’t wrong.

At times, Ole Miss looks incredible. The defense can dominate, make plays, wreak havoc, create turnovers and negative plays and essentially look impenetrable. Then it has the first half at Vanderbilt and the second quarter Saturday against Auburn.

Veteran safety AJ Finley, who had an interception Saturday, said it’s a matter of missing tackles on defense. After it happening somewhat frequently over the last few weeks, he’s been around the Southeastern Conference enough to know what’s coming.

“I kind of think stopped doing the little things right,” Finley said. “We missed tackles and that’s a big thing. It’s popped up the last two games and I feel like that’s something we have to get a handle on this week. …I think we just have to come together more. We just have to make our mind up. There’s nothing more to it. We just have to make our minds up and go do it.”

Auburn rushed for 301 yards Saturday, prompting Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin to joke about the lightning delay that stopped things in the fourth quarter Saturday.

“They said there was lightning within eight miles of here and I said, ‘Well, there’s no run defense within eight miles of here,’” Kiffin said.

All jokes aside, as Kiffin said, the tackling is “a major issue.”

The offense can be dynamic at times, using a brilliant scheme, two powerful running backs and a big-play strike capability to leave opposing defenses flummoxed.

Then, other times, such as the second halves against Troy and Tulsa and the second quarter against Auburn, the offense is anemic. It just bogs down and the tempo that is such a weapon when the offense is humming along becomes a detriment.

“I think we’re kind of shooting ourselves in the foot,” Ole Miss running back Zach Evans said. “Most of our mistakes are mental, somebody missing a block or somebody being out of position. We just have to focus in at practice and push each other. …We know we’re one of the most explosive offenses in college football. We just have to play like it and act like it.”

Through seven games, the periods of inconsistency haven’t hurt Ole Miss. The Rebels are now 7-0 overall, 3-0 in the SEC, after a 48-34 victory over Auburn. They entered Saturday ranked No. 9 nationally and will likely move up a bit when the latest iterations of the polls are released on Sunday.

It’s no secret Ole Miss’ schedule is backloaded. That was a talking point all summer and it has rung true. Of the seven games the Rebels have played, only one team — Kentucky — poised a real threat. Ole Miss has done what good teams do and handled the assignments put in front of it week after week. But it gets tougher now. A two-week road trip to LSU and Texas A&M await. Extended periods of malaise — for lack of a better word — likely will be more costly in Baton Rouge and/or College Station.

And you likely know what’s coming in November — a date with No. 3 Alabama, a trip to Arkansas and a Thanksgiving date against a Mississippi State team that entered Saturday with just one loss.

“We have issues on our team,” Kiffin said. “They change every week. We’re 7-0, which is great, but we have to fix these things because, like I keep saying, it’s going to get harder.”

Everything is in front of Ole Miss. It will wake up Sunday in the national championship conversation and there’s every reason to believe this team has the potential to stay in it when the calendar turns to November — and beyond, really.

But that’s the rub. The word “potential” is still very much what defines this Ole Miss team. It’s good, but it’s not yet great.

In those stretches when things are clicking, Ole Miss looks like a team destined for special things. There’s no denying that. But the Houdini act has to stop and it has to stop soon.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the league isn’t good enough to take advantage. Maybe Ole Miss’ brilliant stretches will continue to outpace those periods of impotence.

Ole Miss, I suspect, would love to not find out.