As SEC play arrives, Ole Miss knows it must 'kick it into another gear'
At 4-0, Ole Miss enters SEC play improved, but has yet to be truly untested
Ole Miss’ 52-13 win over Georgia Southern felt like the culmination of one chapter and the start of another.
Because of the way the schedule is structured, the Rebels essentially played four preseason games before embarking on an eight-game SEC slate with two bye weeks sprinkled in. For a talented team trying to navigate the toughest league in the sport, it’s an ideal setup. For spectators, it hasn’t exactly made for the most entertaining month, but the schedule structure is no one’s fault. The Wake series was scheduled in 2014. Georgia Southern is typically one of the better Group of Five programs. It’s all simply good fortune or poor fortune, depending on how you look at it.
One thing that is clear is that Ole Miss obliterated its four non-conference opponents. The Rebels won by a combined margin of 160-22. None of the games were ever in question and, for the most part, Ole Miss did a pretty good job of not playing down to its competition and adhering to a standard set by itself. The last two games weren’t perfect by any means. The Rebels committed 11 penalties for 114 yards last week and totaled 11 more on Saturday for 133 yards. That’s something that will get Ole Miss beat in SEC play regardless of talent disparity. I think that’s why the focus has been so inward through four games. The coaching staff has the team focusing on itself more than the opponent to try to highlight how good this team can be if it eliminates self-inflicted errors. Kiffin alluded to exactly that in his postgame press conference on Saturday evening.
“I just told our players ‘you have a chance to be really good.’ I have coached for a while. It’s hard to go on runs like they do. They just shut people down for portions of the game when we aren’t committing penalties,” Kiffin said. “We shut people down on defense, then the offense gets the ball and scores within a minute or two. It feels electric, then we screw ourselves up with self-inflicted things. That’s a good thing. I have been on teams where the opposite was true. You play really disciplined and still struggle to win because you don’t have elite players.
“We have a good thing. We just have to clean things up. If they want to be really special, they can be. There are only so many teams that can be really special and this team is one of them.”
This lengthy quote is representative of how Kiffin has spoken about this team from day one of preseason camp. As I have said before and will repeat again, Kiffin has won a lot of games in his four previous years at Ole Miss. He’s had 10 and 11-win teams. He never spoke about any of them the way he does this one. I don’t think he’d bestow this kind of baseline expectation for this group if he didn’t truly believe. The way he spoke about them taking over games felt like he was almost trying to get his team to realize how uncommon that is and how dominant they can be.
I think that’s why the staff’s messaging to this team through four weeks has resembled a mirror: challenging them to play to a standard despite the opponent and trying to convey that penalties, missed tackles and blown assignments might seem like small things when the score is lopsided, but that when the competition steepens, it will cost them a chance to maximize their potential. The message appears to be resonating, too. Dart’s press conference last week after the win over Wake is evidence of that.
After Saturday's victory, Chris Paul Jr. said the defense was “infuriated” that it finally allowed a touchdown, more than 13 quarters into the season. Dart, though somewhat tongue-in-cheek, said his meaningless interception late in the win was going to “ruin his night.”
Ole Miss isn’t a flawless team, nor is it a perfectly constructed roster. But as Kiffin alluded to, there’s enough elite talent on this team to contend for championships if the Rebels uphold their end of the bargain in terms of what they’re able to control.
The preseason ended on Saturday night. Eight games stand between Ole Miss and the postseason. The competition will stiffen immediately, beginning with a Kentucky team with NFL talent on defense and a pair of explosive receivers on offense. Ole Miss has plenty to improve upon, but the preseason reinforced the belief that there is more than enough talent on this team to contend for championships.
Kiffin discusses fans, program building and game day atmosphere
I was at the game on Saturday. About 10 minutes before kickoff, I gazed around the stadium at a sold-out, record-setting crowd (against a Sun Belt school no less). The fireworks went off as the team ran onto the field. I made a comment to my wife about what a spectacle these games had become and how drastically different this experience was from games I attended as a kid. I went to college during the height of the Hugh Freeze era, and it’s even different than it was for those years. And it’s certainly different than when I covered the Matt Luke era. It feels like a party, but in a good way — not dumb “never lost a party” slogan associated with the school. It feels like everyone is part of an orchestrated production. To some extent, that’s exactly what it is.
Kiffin, who has often been critical of the crowds, praised them after the game.
“The players notice that. Recruits notice that,” Kiffin said. “I have been critical when it hasn’t been full, so I want to make sure I credit them when it is. Our team fed off of that.”
He was asked about how the program got to the point of breaking attendance records against non-power four programs.
“First, It’s having great fans. It’s also having an exciting style of play. So, especially in a non-conference game, if you have one of those slow offenses, the game is not as exciting,” Kiffin said. “I think we are exciting to watch play. That’s why I have challenged our fans to stay longer. I think it’s because it is fun to watch. If you have a good concert, a good singer, good lights and the singer performs well, then people come back.
“Our main objective is to win and get to 1-0 each week. But we have also built this thing with some style. We hoped it would be entertaining and that it would look like this so people want to come be a part of it and that recruits say ‘man, I want to go play there.”
Scenes like Saturday night are built by coaches like Kiffin putting an exciting product on the field. It’s also built by so many involved in the football program and the athletic department taking the time to care for the small details that make it feel like a production, like a show, like a party that people don’t want to leave. It’s remarkable how great of a job everyone involved has done to make it feel like exactly that.
The scene on Saturday was pretty surreal, and it won’t be the last one this season either. Look around the country at games on TV. Look at attendance numbers. It’s more expensive than ever for fans to go to games, buy gear, and now — fund the team’s payroll. This isn’t the norm. Other places are struggling to sell out games. Ole Miss doesn’t have that problem right now. That shouldn’t be taken for granted, because it hasn’t always been this way.
Football season IS BACK. If you’re a wagering man and aren’t using SkyBox, you will likely lose money and have no one else to blame but yourself. Sign up for a picks package now and ensure you profit this football season. They’re the best in the business. They rack up units every single week. When you do go purchase your picks package, enter the promo code “RIPPEE” to get 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.
Let’s look at a few things from Saturday and how it might affect the Rebels going forward.
Offense continues to operate at an elite level
When it’s not hurting itself with penalties, this offense has been unstoppable through four games. Obviously, it’s difficult to gauge how sustainable that is, given the competition Ole Miss has played, but to me, it’s really less about how easy the Rebels have moved the ball down the field against defenses that lack SEC-caliber talent.
“It’s time to kick it into another gear, for all of us,” Dart said. “That’s something we have talked about. It’s time to take it to another level. But at the same time, we are going to enjoy winning. It’s hard to win in college football, and we are having fun doing it.”
It’s more about how in control the group is. This offense has played fast at times and played slow at times. It operates in an incredibly efficient manner. There are hardly any miscues, almost no instances of guys not knowing where to go and how to line up (think 2021 receiving corps as an example of the opposite of this), and it’s being led by a third-year quarterback who has now had the same coach and coordinator for three seasons. A third year starting quarterback with the same coach and coordinator is rare in today’s college football world. It’s amazing what stability can breed.
“On the field, there is a trust level there,” Kiffin said. “We spend a lot of time with him, then we let him go play on Saturdays. We built that trust, and it’s important when the quarterback trusts you too. Go back to Matt Corral when he threw six interceptions at Arkansas. Before I even got to the media (room), I told him that we have to do a better job calling plays and coaching, but I have your back. I trust you. I think that goes a long way.”
The schedule is about to get harder. Kentucky has a better than average SEC defense with future NFL talent a handful of spots. The difficult part of the season has now arrived. The Ole Miss offense is going to be a difficult one to stop, if it can avoid stopping itself.
“We are eating as an offense right now as a whole,” Juice Wells said. “I am very excited. I know we are going to face some adversity, but I am excited to see what we can do. I feel like we can go on a run.”
We are thrilled to have C Spire as a sponsor of the Rippee Writes Newsletter and Podcast. It’s to upgrade your home internet to the best service in the market with C Spire Home Fiber. C Spire Home provides the most reliable internet service with 99.99% uptime. C Spire provides 1 Gigabit and 300 Megabit internet packages to homes across Mississippi, Birmingham, and southern Alabama regions. C Spire is also proud to announce the release of their brand new 2 Gigabit and 8 Gigabit home internet plans. Save yourself the hassle by not waiting for your internet connection to drop with the other guys. Call or go online to cspire.com/home today and use promo code “RIPPEE” at checkout for 1 month free service.
Running backs situation remains a mystery
At the risk of beating a dead horse, I still find the running back rotation puzzling. Once again, Ulysses Bentley IV didn’t enter the game until the very end, essentially tallying two carries in mop-up duty as the clock mercifully expired. We’ve wondered whether Bentley’s nursed an injury, wther some other issue has surfaced, or whether the coaching staff simply believes Henry Parrish and Matt Jones are the team’s best two options.
Well, we might have learned a little more about the situation on Saturday night. Dart was asked about Bentley’s diminished role on how Bentley has accepted it.
“I wouldn’t say you would completely embrace that role. You’re still competing every day,” Dart said. “He is an amazing leader on our team. I think it shows the kind of person he is to cheer on his teammates. There are a lot of things behind the scenes that he has been trying to work through. I have a ton of respect for him. Don’t get it twisted. In a few weeks, things could turn around and he could be a star and a guy that takes over the game. That’s what I expect from him. Anytime he is in the game, he is a special player. I think there will be opportunities this year where he comes into the game and excels.”
That was a great answer by Dart. It was also a telling one, particularly the line about Bentley working through things behind the scenes. I am not entirely sure what he meant by that. I have heard enough athletes attempt to be vague to have a decent idea as to whether they’re referring to an injury or not. To me, that did not sound like he was referring to Bentley being injured, but I could be wrong. I suppose what’s important out of this is that he seemingly confirmed that something is up with Bentley. What is it? I have no clue. We may never know. But we can put to rest the idea that the coaching staff simply believes that a combination of Parrish and Jones only is the best option this team has to win.
I refuse to believe that the Rebels will be able to endure an eight-game SEC slate with only those two at running back and have consistent success. The running game has been clunky at times through the non-conference slate against mostly bad defenses. Ole Miss had just 66 yards rushing in the first half on Saturday. Some of that was due to Georgia Southern stacking the box, but the point remains that the running game hasn’t looked quite right at times through four games. It’s been mostly effective but not explosive. Bentley offers an element of explosiveness the other two backs do not.
I guess it remains to be seen as to when the staff is finally willing to turn to Bentley. Dart certainly made it sound like a ‘when, not if,’ type of thing.
Short yardage situations have been a struggle too
This is a minor thing, but I noticed that for the second consecutive week, Ole Miss struggled to convert on third and short. One instance in the first quarter, the Rebels faced a 3rd & 2 from around its own 40. A handoff to Henry Parrish was stopped short. Ole Miss brought in its heavyset packed on fourth down. Georgia Southern jumped offsides before the ball was snapped.
On Ole Miss’ first drive of the third quarter, it faced what was *technically* a 3rd & 1 from the Georgia Southern two yard line. A handoff to Parrish was stopped short of the goal line, but was enough for a first down, setting up 1st & goal at the one yard line. Matt Jones was stopped for no gain on the next play. J.J. Pegues, who came in at tight end on that play, then lined up in the backfield, jumped over the pile and scored a touchdown.
Pegues appears to be the Rebels’ short-yardage plan. I just wonder how sustainable that is, given his value on defense and that he left this game with what appeared to be a shoulder injury before re-entering. Again, it’s a small thing. If something works, it works, and they’ll keep doing it. It’s just something I have noticed for two consecutive weeks now.
As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you three 6 oz. bacon wrapped filets for $20. Just stop by, show proof of subscription and they’ll get you set up. Then go find your own favorites. It’s the best butcher shop in the world.
Secondary penalties are becoming a problem
Ole Miss has committed double-digit penalties in each of its last two games. Several of those have come from the secondary. Eight of the 11 accepted penalties the Rebels committed were on defense. Four of the eight were defensive holding calls. The week prior against Wake Forest, five of the 11 accepted penalties were committed by the defense. Four of those five were either pass interference or defensive holding.
Ole Miss is still rotating quite a few guys on the back end, particularly at safety. Opponents have started to consistently attack the Rebels here. I don’t think it’s a major concern, at least not yet, but this group must cut down on the penalties in the secondary. The defense is going to face much better receiving corps than it has faced so far. This is something the Rebels must rectify soon.
Chris Paul Jr. a revelation for a thin LB group
Ole Miss did not play T.J. Dottery out of caution on Saturday. Kiffin said Dottery could’ve played if needed. That meant more snaps for Paul, who has been really good for Ole Miss through three games. Paul led the team in tackles in this game with 10, recorded 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss.
During preseason camp, there were concerns about Paul’s performance, and questions surfaced as to whether his role on this team would be as significant as the staff originally thought. He’s seemingly squashed those concerns through four games. Kiffin even admitted that while Paul hadn’t been great in practice consistently, but that he’s a different guy when it comes to the game.
“He stepped up, just like he did at Arkansas. Not that he isn’t a great practice player, but he plays great on game days and shows up,” Kiffin said. “He does a really good job for us.”
Paul is a bit of a physically limited player, but has great speed and instincts. Next time he’s on the field, notice how fast he closes the gap between himself and the ball carrier. It is remarkable to watch.
Ole Miss doesn’t play very many guys at linebacker. Though Dottery’s injury doesn’t sound significant, the Rebels badly need a clean bill of health for most of the season at the interior linebacker spots. Paul’s emergence as a productive player and significant contributor will continue to be incredibly valuable for this defense.
Thanks for reading. We’ll have more on Kentucky later this week.