OXFORD - There isn't a great time for injury, just like there isn't a great time for the mumps, the chicken pox or the swine flu.

You don't choose illness and injury, they choose you.

Right bicep soreness can choose you also, and it called Scott Bittle's number at Auburn on Sunday, bringing to a halt a streak of four really impressive pitching performances - four games the Ole Miss Rebels had to have, or they wouldn't be within reach of the overall SEC title with six games to play.

No. 7-ranked Ole Miss (36-13, 16-8 SEC) is tied for the overall lead in the league with LSU and Florida as the Mississippi State season of struggle reaches Oxford this weekend.

This three-way tie is guaranteed to lose at least one member, as LSU and Florida play in Baton Rouge this weekend.

Ole Miss hasn't won an SEC overall regular-season championship in football, men's basketball or baseball since the baseball team did it in 1977.

Bittle, the team's former closer, is a weapon in that hunt the Rebels can't afford to lose, and his availability for this weekend is still TBA.

Against SEC teams, Bittle is 4-1 with a 1.89 earned run average. That's pretty stout, but as a starter Bittle is better at 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA.

Most programs don't replace an elite player with an elite player, and the Rebels can become suspect on the mound quickly without Bittle, especially given the fact that senior Brett Bukvich - who pitched well at Auburn in place of Bittle on Sunday - is scheduled to start Saturday's game as Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco shuffles the rotation.

While the Bulldogs (21-26, 6-17 SEC) have not pitched particularly well, they have hit against SEC teams at a .308 clip. That's third in the league. Their 159 runs scored in SEC-only games ranks fourth.

Throw in the desire by one state rival to mess with the good fortune of another, and this isn't a series to be taken lightly.

So it is that if the Rebels are to continue along the path to an SEC overall championship, they may have to elevate in other areas.

The offense can't step back from how it performed at Auburn. Defense must be without error.

The RPMs may throttle down on the mound, so the other cylinders must be full-speed.

That's no easy task, but it's how championships are won. If it was easy, they'd come around more often.

Parrish Alford (parrish.alford@ djournal.com) covers Ole Miss for the Daily Journal. He blogs about Ole Miss athletics at NeMs360.com.