Ole Miss starts its season in a dozen days against Mercer in Oxford. The Rebels and Bears kick off things at 1 p.m., and Ole Miss has three nonconference contests -- Mercer, Tulane and Georgia Tech -- before SEC festivities begin.

For the Rebels to maximize their season, they need to improve in several areas from last year. Note that I didn't include the free space of red zone offense. Ole Miss was 98th in scoring percentage in the red zone, but it's been a common talking point.

Here are three others to be aware of while we wait on the season opener.

During the Rebels' 10-win Sugar Bowl season in 2021, Ole Miss finished 14th nationally in turnover margin thanks to being 30th nationally in turnovers forced and only throwing seven interceptions. The Rebels also forced 10 fumbles while losing only five.

Last season that national ranking in turnover margin plummeted to 76th, as Ole Miss, while forcing only one fewer turnover, threw 12 interceptions and gave away almost double the amount of fumbles.

Ole Miss was 81st in fumbles lost and 85th in interceptions. Defensively, Ole Miss was top 30 in sacks and middle of the road in third down defense. The regression was on offense. With a more experienced quarterback room led by Jaxson Dart and a backfield with depth, it's reasonable to expect better turnover numbers in 2023.

The offense and defense were quite far apart in this stat last season. Ole Miss offensively led the nation with 112 rushes of 10 yards or more and was second nationally with 38 rushes of at least 20 yards. Their teammates didn't fare so well.

The Rebels were 99th nationally with 69 allowed rushes of at least 10 yards and 94th with 20 rushes allowed of 20 yards or more. Ten of those went for 30 or more yards -- good for 99th nationally.

Ole Miss was actually worse two years ago, finishing 120th in runs of 10 or more yards allowed with 84. In 2022, Ole Miss was 79th in defensive yards per rush, signaling that the Rebels were solid when they didn't lose containment and allow runners past the first level.

The offense wasn't the only unit that struggled in the red zone. Ole Miss had equal issues on the defensive side of the ball.

Ole Miss was 106th nationally in defensive red zone scoring, allowing points 88.5 percent of the time. Auburn was the only SEC team worse at 89 percent. The Rebels allowed touchdowns in the red zone 65 percent of the time, which put them at 93th nationally.

Out of 52 opponent red zone trips, Ole Miss allowed scores 46 times -- 34 touchdowns and 12 field goals. In 2021, the Rebels also had 52 defensive red zone possessions but put up four more stops which ranked 50th that season.

For comparison, last season, Georgia led the SEC with allowed scores 67 percent of the time -- 13 touchdowns and 10 field goals out of 34 possessions.