OXFORD — Toward the end of the third quarter in Saturday’s 22-3 loss to No. 2 Alabama, boos rained down on the Ole Miss offense after quarterback Jevan Snead misfired on yet another pass.

But is it fair that blame be entirely laid at the preseason Heisman Trophy candidate’s feet who once graced the cover of Sports Illustrated?

The quick answer: no.

This season, Snead has completed just 65 of 139 passes for 868 yards with only nine touchdown passes and nine interceptions. For those computing at home, his completion percentage is a woeful 46.8 percent.

But individual stats don’t tell the whole tale.

Most of Snead’s troubles on Saturday could be traced to Alabama’s awesome pass rush, which didn’t record a sack, but harassed him into an 11-of-44 performance for just 140 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions.

The loss of Michael Oher, an All-SEC performer at left tackle, was painfully felt by Snead and the Rebels, especially on obvious passing downs.

“We hit their quarterback just about every time in the first half and I think it affected him,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

A quarterback’s timing is everything. Alabama’s pass rush was quite effective in forcing Snead out of his comfort zone. And without graduated wide receiver Mike Wallace, who averaged more than 20 yards per reception and had seven touchdowns last year, the Rebels were unable to keep the Tide from stacking the tackle box against the run thanks to a lack of a consistent deep threat.

Since in football one metric affects another, the Rebels’ inability to run the football against Alabama’s dominating front seven was like a snowball rolling downhill and it was especially costly on first down.

The Rebels were unable to establish any sort of consistent running game against Alabama, just like in a 16-13 loss to South Carolina in the season opener. Snead completed just 7-of-21 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown against the Gamecocks.

The Rebels averaged 3.7 yards on first down against Alabama, but those numbers were skewed in the first half by an 8-yard run by running back Brandon Bolden, a 13-yard pass connection to Shay Hodge, a 20-yard toss to Bolden underneath and a 13-yard catch by Markeith Summers when the Tide was playing back in a soft zone with a 22-3 lead. Take those four plays away and you have a recipe for struggle.

As for play choice, the Rebels had 22 first-down situations, passed on 12 of them and rushed on 10. This was in marked contrast to the South Carolina game, when the Rebels rushed on 20 of 23 first-down situations.

Four of those 10 rushing attempts on first down against Alabama were for three yards or less, sticking the Rebels in second and long situations, which affects the play-calling from there on out. Second and 10 yards to go usually calls for a conservative run to get some of that lost yardage back, which left Snead and the Rebel offense in unmanageable third and long situations where the Tide pass rush could ignore the run game and let fly with Saban’s profusion of blitzes to startling effect. Snead had precious little time, just like against South Carolina, and his completion percentage nose-dived as a result. The Rebels went 0-for-9 on third down conversions and are only converting 33 percent this season, a number inflated by big wins over Memphis, Southeastern Louisiana and Vanderbilt.

Passing on first down did the Rebels little good, as the Tide was able to get pressure with just four defenders on most first downs and Snead hit only 4 of 12 attempts.

Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said that he and offensive coordinator Kent Austin tried to get Snead going early in the first half with some underneath throws to build his confidence. It didn’t work as Snead limped out to a 2-of-12 start for 14 yards and two interceptions.

“After he got hit quite a bit, you could tell his footwork struggled on those short throws and he was out of sync,” Nutt said in his Sunday media conference. “He missed some easy throws that he normally hits. He has to get that corrected.”

But not all of those errant passes were Snead’s fault. Big drops in crucial third down situations killed drives. Two of the interceptions were bobbled by Snead’s receivers into the hands of an Alabama defender both times.

Austin made it clear that his offense as a unit, not Snead, is at fault.

“We need to work on the entire offensive collectively,” Austin said. “We need all of our players to understand that it takes all 11 to move the ball and score.”

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Contact Steve Wilson at swilson@vicksburgpost.com