Even in victory, the asterisks are everywhere.
Ole Miss downed Louisiana Tech 24-0 last weekend to snap a four-game losing streak and win for the first time since the opener against Memphis.
But when you're one of two SEC teams yet to win a league game and you've allowed almost twice as many points as you have scored in league games, one good day doesn't erase all the problems.
So in the Rebels' first shutout since 2003, the offense had a season-low 232 yards and scored just two touchdowns against the 1-4 Bulldogs.
And defensively, coach Ed Orgeron came out of the game still fretting over Ole Miss' poor tackling.
In short, this is not the same program that Alabama coach Nick Saban saw the last time he took a team to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium - which was in 2003, his last year at LSU with the SEC West title at stake.
"The way we play defense, there is nothing comfortable around here," Orgeron said. "We have to continue to get better. We are going to play a lot better teams coming up - starting with Alabama - and we need to improve our play immensely to be able to play with these guys."
Not much at all is going well these days for Ole Miss - evidenced by ranking last in the SEC in scoring offense and next-to-last in scoring defense.
Some of it doesn't even make much sense.
Senior BenJarvus Green-Ellis is fifth in the SEC in rushing with 95 yards per game. But the Rebels are last in the league in rushing, averaging just 110 yards per game. If Green-Ellis doesn't get it, Ole Miss doesn't have a running game.
And senior quarterback Seth Adams is fourth in the SEC in passing - ahead of Alabama's John Parker Wilson, Georgia's Matthew Stafford, Auburn's Brandon Cox and LSU's Matt Flynn.
But it hasn't cleared a path to the end zone.
"As a whole, I think we did some good things," Adams said following the Louisiana Tech game. "I just think we stopped ourselves and made some mistakes."
Indeed, Adams threw three interceptions against the Bulldogs after throwing just four over the first five games.
If nothing else, though, Ole Miss will be brimming with confidence on defense.
"We worked hard again this week on tackling," Orgeron said. "We think we made some improvement last week on our fits, our linebackers being in the right spot against the run."
The 301 yards Louisiana Tech had were the fewest Ole Miss has allowed this season.
"We just emphasized tackling and winning," said linebacker Ashlee Palmer of the Louisiana Tech game. "We wanted a shutout and we got a shutout. We worked a lot on tackling because that has been our downfall so far this year."
