How Ole Miss might look different after a bye + a look at Oklahoma
Four areas the Rebels can improve on after a bye and a look at the Sooners
Ole Miss hosts its first home game in nearly a month on Saturday as the Rebels welcome a battered and pedestrian Oklahoma team.
Ole Miss is coming off a much-needed bye week after a gut-wrenching defeat at LSU — a game in which there was not a single snap taken in which Ole Miss trailed.
For Ole Miss, these final five games offer a sliver of a chance to right the ship and cement the season as a success. These five games will also determine the degree of disappointment this much anticipated season will be remembered for. The Rebels are talented enough to beat every opponent on their schedule. They’ll likely be favored in four of the final five games, but Ole Miss has not done anything to prove it is anything other than a talented collection of front-runners that can’t finish games and wilts at the first sign of self-inflicted adversity.
If Ole Miss is able to turn its season around, this team is going to have to look different than it did in the first seven games. Let’s examine a few areas that might see some change.
1. Running back personnel use
In a lot of ways, this season has felt like one long, miserable broken record. I try not to bore the people who read this column. As each week passes, I sometimes feel guilty for harping on the same things repeatedly, but I don’t know what else to write about when it comes to this stubborn, confounding team.
Let’s be brutally honest about what we witnessed and confirmed two weeks ago in Baton Rouge when it comes to the running game: complete coaching malpractice. An injury to former walk-on Matt Jones forced this coaching staff to play Ulysses Bentley meaningful snaps for the first time this season. Bentley broke off a 50-yard touchdown run on a 4th & 1 in the second quarter — a scenario the Rebels have been horrible at converting when using a traditional running back this season. Bentley ran for 108 yards on 11 touches at 9.7 yards per rush. In 2023, Bentley was a great compliment to Quinshon Judkins and was thought to be the team’s starting running back entering 2024. Instead, this coaching staff played Henry Parrish — who has followed Ole Miss running backs coach Kevin Smith to Ole Miss, Miami then back to Ole Miss in the last four years — and a 5-foot-7 former walk-on from Jackson Prep, Jones.
When asked about this puzzling decision, Kiffin gaslit the fanbase for not blindly accepting that Bentley was somehow just no longer as good as Parrish or Jones. In Baton Rouge, that was proved to be complete and utter nonsense. This situation is indicative of an insecure and aloof coaching staff who apparently thinks its consumers are morons. In the Monday column following the LSU loss, I buried a stat that I think should get more attention: In three SEC games, Henry Parrish has generated seven runs of eight yards or more. Bentley had six runs of eight yards or more in 11 carries in the LSU game alone. But remember, Bentley is simply not better than Parrish or Jones. Don’t ask why, just trust the 49-year-old man who spends his nights tweeting Taylor Swift lyrics and his loose cannon of a running backs coach to make decisions like this. You fans need to just keep footing the bill for the payroll and stop asking questions.
Be that as it may, Bentley simply must be involved in this offense. Ole Miss hasn’t run the football consistently against any defense with a pulse. While I am no schematic expert and will not pretend to bullshit you on why the Rebels’ offense as a whole has faltered in SEC play, I believe the single biggest reason for the struggling offense is the inability to run the football. More specifically, the generate explosive running plays has handicapped this offense. Before this running backs situation devolved into the farce that it currently is, I was pretty accepting of Kevin Smith’s favorite, Parrish, being the starter because I assumed Bentley would still get a decent amount of carries. What I never understood was Jones playing over Bentley. It is now apparent that both scenarios are patently absurd. Bentley should play over both of them. Bentley must be the focal point of the running game if Ole Miss is going to be better on offense.
I’ll point one more thing out, too, as it relates to the running game. The Rebels added Miami (Ohio) transfer and former South Carolina running back Rashad Amos in the offseason. Amos hasn’t played all year, with the exception of eight carries in mop-up duty. Maybe he’s not an SEC-caliber running back. But at this point, how can we be certain Amos isn’t any good? We’ve never seen him on the field, and the coaches preventing him from being on the field have proven to be completely unreliable narrators of personnel. The same people who watched Bentley run the football in the SEC for two-plus years and randomly decided he was no better than Jones, are the same ones deeming Amos unfit to see the field. Just food for thought.
If Bentley is not a more prominent factor in the running game on Saturday against the Sooners, I will be at a loss for words to describe the stubbornness and incompetence of this coaching staff.
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2. Offensive line rotation
Again, same story, different week. In this case, I very much understand the difficult nature of the situation due to injuries. Ole Miss lost Caleb Warren in August for several weeks. Jeremy James injured his wrist in the season opener and hasn’t played since. Jerquan Scott was the first team center in preseason camp and missed the first two games with an injury. Left tackle Jayden Williams has been out since the Georgia Southern win with a knee injury.
In his Monday press conference after the LSU loss, Kiffin spoke about how the injuries to this unit have made it difficult to find continuity and production on the offensive line. I have been a little puzzled by that in the last three weeks. Scott has been back since the Wake Forest game, Warren has dressed out since the Kentucky loss and James has dressed out the last two games — yet Warren and Scott have played sparingly and James has not played at all. Perhaps all those guys were not completely healthy but available if needed. Maybe Kiffin and the staff wanted to find some semblance of continuity entering SEC play and stuck with the same starting five when healthy. It’s definitely difficult to work an offensive lineman back in from injury in the middle of the season. This is not second guessing Kiffin and the staff, but more so an observation.
Now, after a bye week to get healthy and acclimated, I would be pretty surprised if the offensive line group that started at LSU is identical to the one that runs out for the first series against Oklahoma. For as much that has been made about Bentley and the running backs' usage, the offensive line has only compounded the issues in the running game and with the offense as a whole. The Rebels need to find a more sturdy starting five. I still think they have the talent on the roster to find that combination. I am curious to see how different that looks on Saturday.
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3. Spreading the football to all of Ole Miss’ weapons
I will again reiterate that I am not a schematic expert and don’t have any scheme-specific criticisms as to what the Ole Miss offense should do differently to get its (highly-paid) weapons the football, but what I do know is that the Rebels are not a playoff-caliber football team if they are singularly reliant on Tre Harris being on the field and at peak capacity in order for the offense to be productive. This passing game, through seven weeks, has been the Harris or bust show. Harris is arguably the best receiver in college football. Feeding him the football frequently makes perfect sense. But he’s left the game with an injury in the last two weeks and the Ole Miss offense has been completely toothless without him on the field. This makes little sense considering the team still has Caden Prieskorn, Jordan Watkins, Juice Wells and Cayden Lee.
Lee caught nine passes for 132 yards on 13 targets in the loss to LSU. Ten of those 13 targets came in the second half. Coincidentally, Harris left the game midway through the third quarter with an injury. From the view of an untrained eye, it seemed Harris left the game, Lee assumed the ‘let’s force-feed himthe football’ slot, and it didn’t work out very well. Lee is 5-foot-11, 175 lbs. Harris is 6-foot-3, 210 lbs. Lee is a good college receiver. Harris is a great college receiver. The skill sets that allow them to thrive could not be more different. Harris is a physically-imposing nightmare for opposing defensive backs. Lee is not. The force-feed the football strategy works for one but not the other. Again, there was likely a ton more nuance to the play-calling that night than what I just outlined, but I think the general point is valid: Ole Miss has to get better about distributing the football to all of its weapons — not just Harris.
Maybe the better way to describe it is to be less predictable, diversifying beyond throwing the football to Harris and employing the same three rushing concepts. Point being, Ole Miss has a bunch of talented skill position players that are not being utilized with enough regularity.
4. Displaying any sort of resolve
Ole Miss has lost two football games in which it was undoubtedly the better team. The Rebels’ inability to finish games has proved to be costly. I realize all of these points written have been about the offense, but I am not sure what I can legitimately criticize the defense for. They’ve performed at a championship-caliber level, and their performance juxtaposed to the offensive ineptitude is likely what makes this season’s failures so difficult for fans to digest.
Between the LSU and Kentucky losses, Ole Miss essentially had five fourth-quarter possessions in which it led the game and could have extended to a multi-score lead with a touchdown. The Rebels generated a grand total of three points out of those five possessions. Some of that is scheme, some of it is personnel — all of which we discussed above. But at the end of the day, some of it is mental toughness. This group has rightfully been criticized as front runners by national media throughout the last month. Ole Miss has done little to shirk those allegations. What was supposed to be an explosive offense, led by one of the most experienced quarterbacks in college football, throwing to a pass-catching corps of highly-paid and talented players, has crumbled in the most consequential snaps and drives.
In the Kiffin era, Ole Miss has regularly been one of the most dynamic offenses in the sport. But this year, when push came to shove, whether it be the final drive against Kentucky or the overtime series against LSU: did any of you watching that game actually believe Ole Miss was going to take the football down the field and score? I sure didn’t.
Will this team, dealt two head-scratching losses in the first seven games, rebound and find a way to become the version of itself everyone hoped they’d be? Or will they continue to falter and allow this much anticipated season to unravel. A year ago, every single time the Rebels gave up a touchdown to trail in the fourth quarter, they answered with a touchdown and won the game. This year has been a drastically different story, for reasons that remain unclear. I don’t anticipate Saturday’s game against the Sooners will be close. But at some point in these final five games, Ole Miss will be in a close game in the fourth quarter, needing to score to win or put away a game. I wonder if the outcome will be any different.
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A look at Oklahoma
The Sooners are 4-3 (1-3). Their lone conference win was a road victory at Auburn in which Hugh Freeze threw up on himself in the fourth quarter and then blamed his quarterback and assistants. Oklahoma is a very lucky fourth quarter on The Plains away from entering this matchup on a four-game losing skid. The Sooners struggle with the concept of the forward pass, cannot block anyone, but have a legitimately good defense that does well to mask the offensive ineptitude. Think of Kentucky with less dynamic receivers and a more inconsistent running game. That is essentially what Oklahoma is. The Sooners' blueprint to win this game will be similar to Kentucky’s — controlling what they hope to be a slow pace, limiting possessions and doing just enough offensively to escape with a win. Here are a few things you should know about the Sooners
1. Injuries have ravaged the offense
Oklahoma has been without its five best receivers for most of the season and is most certainly going to be without four of them in this game (and probably five, in all likelihood). The offensive line has been riddled with injuries as well.
That is a disastrous recipe for an Oklahoma team that’s played two young, inexperienced quarterbacks this year. Think about what Ole Miss would look like if Tre Harris, Cayden Lee, Caden Prieskorn, Juice Wells and Ayden Williams were all injured for every game so far this season? I am not totally sure I could name three more receivers that would play. That’s an impossible thing to overcome. It’s mostly why the Sooners have been so anemic on offense. Oklahoma has scored a total of 12 points in its last two SEC games. This offense cannot move the football with any consistency.
2. The quarterback situation is weird
Last year, Oklahoma went 10-2 with UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. True freshman and 5-star prospect Jackson Arnold was the backup but was viewed as the future of the program. The Sooners sort of shooed Gabriel out the door (he transferred to Oregon) in favor of giving Arnold the reins to the offense. Due to the aforementioned injuries, as well as Arnold’s inexperience and poor decision-making, the Sooners struggled offensively early in the year. In Oklahoma’s first real test of the season, the Sooners fell behind 22-3 to Tennessee at home. Arnold threw a pair of bad interceptions and was benched in the first half and was replaced by Michael Hawkins, a true freshman. This decision was criticized as a panic move and a mishandling of the development of an uber-talented young quarterback.
Hawkins offers more of a running threat than Arnold, but the results were about the same. Oklahoma stole a road game at Auburn due to a late pick six and Hawkins connecting on a deep ball, but was wildly inconsistent and also turned the football over. Oklahoma was destroyed 34-3 by Texas and then spanked by South Carolina at home last week 35-9. Hawkins was benched in the first half of the loss to the Gamecocks and replaced by Arnold.
Oklahoma’s quarterback situation is a mess and has been exacerbated by impatience from the coaching staff, a depleted receiving corps and a bad offensive line. Think about it from this perspective: Oklahoma chose to ride into this season with a former 5-star prospect, inexperienced, true-sophomore at quarterback, hoping he would become a star, yet pulled the plug on him (at least temporarily), less than four full games into the season. If you’re Arnold, regardless of how the rest of the year turns out, why would he be chomping at the bit to return to the program next year? Again, it’s a tough situation that’s been handled by the coaching staff in a very odd fashion.
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3. Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell fired
Oklahoma fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after last week’s loss to South Carolina. I don’t pretend to know whether Littrell was great or awful, but given the timing of the move, coupled with Oklahoma’s injury problems on offense, it felt like Littrell was the sacrificial lamb for a season that is devolving into a disaster. Co-offensive coordinator (and former Ole Miss tight ends coach) Joe Jon Finley is the interim OC. Will Oklahoma look any different offensively after a move like this? I doubt it. Arnold appears to be the team’s starting quarterback. His offensive line struggles to protect him and he has no receivers to throw to. I cannot make a rational case for how Oklahoma scores points on Ole Miss, beyond the Rebels’ offense turning the football over a bunch (like Auburn did) and giving the game away.
4. The Oklahoma defense is good
The Sooners are stout on defense despite being a bit injured in the secondary. Base level statistics do not paint an accurate picture of this defense due to how often it has been on the field due to the ineptitude of the Oklahoma offense. Make no mistake: the Sooners front seven is legitimately good and will provide a tough test for an Ole Miss offense that has not proved it can consistently move the football on SEC defenses. If the Sooners hang around in this game, it will be due to Ole Miss playing poorly.
In a way, this is a pretty decent test for Ole Miss to rectify what happened the last time the Rebels at home. This game should not be close. As of this writing, Ole Miss is 20-point favorites over the Sooners. I think this game will be a pretty telling indication in terms of how fans should view the rest of the season. If the Rebels play well, score a bunch of points and put a hapless team away early in the game, there is (at least in theory) reason to believe this team used a much-needed week off to analyze itself and make improvements. If Ole Miss slogs through this game through three quarters and the game hangs in the balance in the fourth, then I think you should likely temper any sort of hope that the Rebels right the ship.
This game will test the mental fortitude of Ole Miss more than anything else.
Thanks for reading. We’ll have more coverage after the game.
Great analysis. I hope the coaching staff read it!