Adversity arrives: Kentucky exposed Ole Miss' flaws. Can the issues be fixed?

How will this Ole Miss team respond to a shocking upset loss?

photo credit: Ole Miss Athletics

Ole Miss lost to Kentucky, 20-17, in its SEC opener on Saturday. On the surface, it was a shocking defeat that deflated the high expectations of what is an imperfect team.

The anatomy of the game and how it played out showed how Kentucky exposed the most glaring flaws the Rebels possess. These were familiar weaknesses, too. The only unknown was their severity and how much of an impact those flaws have on this team’s chances of reaching the college football playoff.

What were those flaws? How did Kentucky expose them? How fixable are these issues for a team with everything still left to play for? Let’s take a look.

Ole Miss did not run the ball with any consistency

Ole Miss ran the football 29 times for 92 yards at a clip of 3.2 yards per rush. The offense rushed just 12 times for 32 yards in a first half that culminated with the Rebels trailing 10-7.

The running game is officially a problem for Ole Miss. It had looked disjointed and lacked explosiveness at various points during the non-conference slate, but with the offensive line plagued by injuries, the Rebels destroying their opponents while only using two of (at least) three capable running backs on the roster, it was difficult to tell how real the issue was. I think we have that answer now.

Of the 29 total carries, Henry Parrish had 13, Jaxson Dart had nine (this excludes four sacks he took) and Matt Jones had two. Parrish had four rushing attempts in the first half that went for 1, 2, 3 and 2 yards respectively. Kentucky has a stout defensive line anchored by future first round pick Deone Walker. The Wildcats’ defense is designed to prevent the run on the interior and limit explosive plays on the back end in the secondary. They accomplished both quite well.

The Rebels, of course, scored on the game’s opening drive with ease. There isn’t a surer bet than Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. scoring on script to open a game. All five plays on that initial drive that got the Rebels down one yard line were pass plays. Parrish capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown rush. After that, it was a struggle for the offense.

To me, it seemed like once Ole Miss realized it wasn’t having much success running the football, the offense was left scrambling as far as a coherent plan to move the football down the field. The Rebels only had three more first half possessions after their initial scoring drive and generated just three more first downs.

An effective (and ideally explosive) running game is a crucial component to Kiffin’s offense. In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss is 37-12 when rushing for at least 100 yards and 26-5 when rushing for 200 or more. When rushing for 100 yards or fewer? 1-4. Ole Miss must run the football well for its offense to be effective.

The running back personnel, and lack of concern with the run game struggles, is odd

As has been discussed repeatedly, the running back rotation makes little sense. Through five games, Ole Miss has elected to use Henry Parrish Jr. and Matt Jones as its only two running backs. Miami (OH) transfer Rashad Amos is apparently a non-factor and the staff simply will not play Ulysses Bentley IV. The refusal to play Bentley is puzzling. He’s not injured. He's played on special teams and returned kicks on Saturday. Even when Parrish suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury in the second half, the staff chose to play a compromised Parrish and Jones over Bentley.

Parrish arrived at Ole Miss in 2020 and was recruited by then running backs coach Kevin Smith. After the 2021 season, Smith left to become the running backs coach at Miami. Parrish transferred to Miami that same offseason. Smith rejoined the Ole Miss staff in the same role in 2023. Parrish transferred back to Ole Miss last winter. Jones joined the program as a walk-on in 2021 and has cracked the rotation this year.

Kiffin’s been asked repeatedly why Bentley doesn’t play. Each time he’s basically said that Bentley has done nothing wrong and that the other two guys are simply ahead of him. Last year, Bentley rushed 95 times for 540 yards and four touchdowns at a clip of 5.7 yards per rush. He was a seamless compliment to the Rebels’ feature back Quinshon Judkins. He added an explosive burst to the running game and was a home run threat. This year, he cannot get onto the field. Kiffin was asked about Bentley again on Monday.

“It’s a fair question. I get asked that every week,” Kiffin said. “Those other guys are doing well. They ran well. They protected well, so it’s nothing against Bentley. It just is how it is. I can’t predict how the future will go.”

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Ole Miss ran for fewer than 100 yards for just the fifth time under Kiffin in Saturday’s loss. As previously mentioned, the Rebels are 1-4 win this happens. The one win? Last year’s 37-20 road victory over a ranked Tulane team. That win came on the heels of rushing for only 143 yards in a 73-7 win over Mercer in week one. Kiffin was asked after the Tulane win about the early-season running game struggles.

"Highly concerned," Kiffin said "That’s very unusual for us, not just here, but anywhere. It’s just been a long (time), this job, FAU, Alabama, I don’t remember the inability to run the ball at all. They did a great job, but obviously that has a lot to do with us and that’s everybody. That’s perimeter blocking, linemen execution, running back footwork, everything. Running takes everyone to have a good running game. We definitely look to improve there. That’s a major issue and one I don’t think we would’ve guessed."

Kiffin doesn’t seem as concerned this year. Maybe that’s because the Rebels are down three offensive linemen due to injuries. Maybe it’s because he truly is that confident in the two running backs that currently play. Maybe it’s because a 12-team playoff allows for more margin for error. Maybe he’s incredibly concerned and simply hasn’t been asked a question that prompted him to express it. Any of those things can be true. But with the current state of the running game, its lack of explosiveness and how it looked in Saturday’s SEC opener, it is incredibly puzzling why a guy who has proven to be an explosive back at the SEC level somehow is no longer good enough to warrant a single carry. Bentley’s been injury-prone throughout his career and has been utilized as a change-of-pace option. If you want to argue that he’s not an every down back, that’s perfectly logical. What seems illogical is how he got 94 carries on an 11-win team a year ago and now is not good enough to be on the field at all.

What is clear is that Ole Miss can ill-afford to have more rushing outputs like it had against Kentucky. It greatly handicapped what should be an explosive offense. The Rebels will get healthier on the offensive line. I suppose the running back personnel “is what it is,” at this point. Is a clean bill of health on the offensive line and the same two running backs carrying the ball enough to fix the problems with the rushing attack? Who knows. Will Ole Miss try something different and use Bentley? It seems like it’s worth a shot. What is there to lose?

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Kentucky preyed on Ole Miss’ secondary

For the third consecutive week, Ole Miss committed too many penalties in the secondary. The Rebels were penalized eight times in the game. All of those came in the first half. Five of those were defensive penalties, three of which were either defensive holding or pass interference in the secondary. All three came on third down, and two of those came on Kentucky’s final drive of the first half that led to a touchdown and the Wildcats taking a 10-7 lead into the break.

I didn’t think this was a well-officiated game. I didn’t necessarily agree with at least one of the three calls against the secondary. But we now have a three-week sample size of this. The secondary simply grabs too much, and it proved to be costly for the Rebels. Kentucky only scored two touchdowns in this game and a pair of penalties in the secondary gift-wrapped the Wildcats’ first touchdown.

“It’s very chaotic out there and you’re playing fast,” safety Trey Washington said. “It’s not like any defensive back is trying to hold. We’ve got to find ways to practice and get better at that, and we will do that.”

Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff went 18-28 for 243 yards and a touchdown. It was a season-high in passing yards for the Georgia transfer quarterback. In Kentucky’s two other SEC games against Georgia and South Carolina, Vandagriff completed 51 percent of his passes against the Bulldogs and 30 percent against the Gamecocks. He completed 64 percent of his throws against the Rebels. Vandagriff had a passer rating of 35.2 against South Carolina and 87.3 against Georgia. His passer rating in the win over Ole Miss was 149.0. The Rebels sacked Vandagriff a season-high five times, too.

“We have to do a better job of relating to the routes that they get,” Washington said. “They did a good job of making plays. We have to do a better job of getting off the field on third down and fourth down.”

Kentucky’s passing attack was hardly dynamic, but it was good enough to deliver a win. Ole Miss was without safety Louis Moore, but otherwise had a mostly healthy secondary.

The game’s most consequential play came on a 4th & 7 for Kentucky on its own 20-yard-line with four minutes remaining in the game. Two weeks removed from Kentucky coach Mark Stoops receiving criticism for punting late in the fourth quarter down one point to top-ranked Georgia, he decided to take a substantial risk and go for it. Kiffin, like myself and I am sure many of you, seemed legitimately stunned Kentucky actually snapped the ball. With Trey Amos locked onto Kentucky’s best receiver, Dane Key, on the near side of the field, the Wildcats threw a deep ball to a speedy Barrion Brown, who beat Isiah Hamilton, caught the football and raced for a 63-yard game that set up the game-winning touchdown.

"We ran pressure against man and he made a great throw,” Kiffin said. “I told (Stoops) after the game, great job. He went out of character. The guy made a great throw and they made a great catch and I commend them.”

Kentucky has a decent SEC-caliber receiving corps. Ole Miss will face tougher passing attacks, like LSU in two weeks. The Rebels are simply going to have to commit fewer penalties in the secondary and sure things up on the back end of their defense. Otherwise, it’s going to play a role in costing them another game or multiple games.

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A banged up offensive line was overwhelmed

This overlaps a bit with the struggles in the running game. The offensive line, down three potential starters, was overwhelmed against Kentucky’s defensive front. Left tackle Jayden Williams was a late scratch. Caleb Warren has yet to play due to injury and Jeremy James has not played since the season opener with an injury. No matter how much depth Ole Miss thought it had on the offensive line entering the season, being down a trio of starters is a really tough task for any team to overcome. It didn’t help that the opponent has one of the best defensive lines in the conference.

“I said it all week so I am not just saying it now. That guy (Deone Walker) is a phenomenal, elite player and they have long, elite defensive players,” Kiffin said. “They added a mike (linebacker) from Georgia that has made a total difference from a mentality standpoint and that defense hasn’t given up 300 yards all year. Georgia couldn’t do anything against them at times. They are going to give people problems and we certainly did not help ourselves.”

Ole Miss struggled to run the football with any effectiveness, outside of one drive on its first possession of the second half, and Jaxson Dart was sacked a season-high four times.

We knew the injuries to the offensive line early in the season were a major concern for Ole Miss. Perhaps it was underestimated just how significant of an issue it would be against the Wildcats. Williams being a late scratch on Saturday only enhanced the unit’s struggles.

Ole Miss will get healthier up front over the next couple of weeks. But it’s tough to work guys back from injury in the middle of the season, (Gerquan Scott is an example of that), particularly in the middle of conference play. And the road doesn’t get any easier with South Carolina looming. The Gamecocks have generated 14 sacks in four games and have two of the best edge guys in the conference, including freshman sensation Dylan Stewart. Such is life in the SEC.

I am no savant when it comes to offensive line play and am not going to sit here and tell you the pass protection was awful or that it was fine. I truly don’t know. Four sacks allowed doesn’t seem great. I also wondered how it affected Dart’s ability to read the field. The discrepancy in targets among Ole Miss pass catchers was odd. Dart went 18-27 for 261 yards and a touchdown. Of the 27 pass attempts, 15 of those targets were to Tre Harris, who caught 11 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown. No other receiver or tight end was targeted more than twice. Parrish (a running back) was second with five targets. Juice Wells didn’t have a catch and was targeted just twice. Jordan Watkins was not targeted. Caden Prieskorn’s only catch and target came on the fourth-down heave late in the fourth quarter to keep Ole Miss alive.

I can’t exactly tell you why this is the case. I can’t imagine it was by design. Kentucky was without its top corner, Maxwell Hairston, due to an injury. Whether it was the pass rush or a great coverage scheme, Kentucky stifled what was touted as an explosive passing offense for Ole Miss.

Saturday was just the fifth time under Kiffin that the Rebels have scored fewer than 20 points. They are 1-4 in those games.

All is not yet lost

The predominant issues that plagued Ole Miss in this loss were all plainly visible before this game. The offensive line injuries were an obvious concern. The puzzling running back rotation and lack of explosiveness in the running game were discussed for the last couple of weeks. The penalties in the secondary were a clear issue in the previous two games. Kentucky exploited all of these, was effective and methodical on offense and played a great game of ‘keep away’ from the Ole Miss offense. All of that cobbled together produced a disappointing defeat for the Rebels.

As bad as it was, I don’t think it changed what I think this team can be. Ole Miss’ defensive front is legitimately awesome. It will give the Rebels a chance to win anywhere they go, against anyone they play. I find it very difficult to believe the version of the offense we saw on Saturday is what the offense will be for the rest of the year. Ole Miss had a bad day on offense, from running to blocking, play calling and converting on crucial downs (Rebels were 1-10 on third down), but if there is anyone who has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offensive production, it’s Kiffin and Weis. It seems unfathomable that with Dart at quarterback and the plethora of pass-catching weapons this group boasts, that the offense will struggle regularly like it did on Saturday.

The issues are mostly fixable.

• Ole Miss must fix its running game. I think it can do that.

• Ole Miss must get healthier on the offensive line. Obviously, that is out of the Rebels' control,  but it seems likely that will happen sooner rather than later.

• Ole Miss must find a way to get its weapons the football in the passing game. I think it can definitely do that.

• Ole Miss must be better in the secondary. While this is the only area in which I am not sold on the overall talent level, it can certainly find a way to be penalized less.

Saturday’s loss was a gut punch for the Rebels. They’ve eliminated much of their margin for error as far as making the college football playoff. This team’s character and fortitude will be tested over the next several weeks. Back-to-back road tests loom against South Carolina and LSU. Those are likely now must-wine games if the Rebels hope to have a realistic shot at the playoff entering the month of November.

“You can either quit and stay down, or you can get up. You can’t blink. We have a lot more opportunities. One game isn’t going to define the whole year,” Dart said after Saturday’s loss.

Adversity has arrived. How does a veteran team that’s repeatedly preached about culture, toughness and resilience, respond to its arrival?

“We’ve put in a lot of time and a lot of effort through the offseason,” Dart said. “We have a lot of experience on our team. We understand that we have to make the most of the rest of our opportunities.”