Ole Miss throttles LSU on picturesque day in Oxford
A defense that answered the call, an offense that's surviving and a soon-to-be real conversation about running the table
Hope everyone had a good Monday. We’ve got our usual Sunday reaction podcast out with former Ole Miss recruiting specialist Weldon Rotenberg. We hit all angles of Ole Miss’ win over the Tigers and how it sets up as the Rebels continue to survive the month of October. It’s well worth your time. Check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts.
Rebels throttle Tigers on picturesque day in Oxford
The final was 31-17. The game was nowhere near as close as the final score. After a sluggish start over the first 15 minutes, the Rebels pushed LSU around and thoroughly dominated them for the remaining three quarters. From a big picture standpoint, this day couldn’t have gone better for Ole Miss. The weather was great. The sellout crowd was electric. The ceremony for Eli Manning was cool and the game went about as well as it could possibly go in what was presumably Ed Orgeron’s final time as a head coach in Vaught-Hemingway stadium.
As I wrote in Friday’s newsletter, Ole Miss hasn’t always capitalized on marketing opportunities and its efforts aren’t always the most forward-thinking, but give credit where credit is due. The athletic department nailed this one. The attention to detail was impressive and the entire weekend played out perfectly.
Another thing I mentioned last week was enjoying the ride. I am talking to all of you Ole Miss fans reading out there. Just two years ago, the program was a few weeks away from the infamous 2019 Egg Bowl, coming off lethargic losses at a middling Missouri team and a home defeat to a pedestrian Texas A&M team, with an incompetent coaching staff who repeatedly tried to tell you Matt Corral was not the best quarterback on the team. That was two years ago. Two. It’s been a remarkable turnaround. Enjoy it, because there have been some lean years since the least time Ole Miss was relevant.
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Offense runs wild with a banged up O-line
Ole Miss ran for 266 yards in this game against a good LSU defensive line. The Rebels did this despite Ben Brown missing the game with an injury and Caleb Warren rotating in and out in his first game back since suffering an injury in the loss at Alabama. I had a hard time deciphering whether Warren was re-injured or if the coaching staff was cautious with his workload. Maybe he came back a week early. The initial report was he’d be out until the end of October. But whatever the case was, at one point in the second quarter, Ole Miss ran out this offensive line: Nick Broeker (LT), Jordan Rhodes (LG), Bryce Ramsey (C), Orlando Umana (RG) and Jeremy James (RT). That’s two back ups and the starting center moving to guard in the middle of the game — and I bet many of you never noticed. That’s kind of the point. The Rebels’ ability to run the football with all the reshuffling going on up front is a testament to both the coaching staff and the players. We’ve seen what this offense looks like when it cannot run the football successfully, and they weren’t exactly dealt a full deck in this game going up against a good defensive line. None of it mattered. Ole Miss ran the football well and a couple of third down runs pretty much decided this game.
A couple of notes stuck out from the running game.
Ole Miss used its running backs better than it has all season. All three guys played a uniquely important role in this game. The Rebels had a first-world problem in a sense when it came to figuring out the best ways to use Jerrion Ealy, Henry Parrish and Snoop Conner, but Kiffin and Lebby played all the right notes on Saturday. To me, Ealy was the x-factor in all of this. He finished with 97 yards on 12 carries and had a pair of third down runs that altered the trajectory of the game.
Kiffin had an interesting note about this in his postgame press conference. He said that he told Ealy “you are a speed back but you are not playing like one,” and urged Ealy do what he does best. Kiffin noted that Ealy often gets in trouble when he stops his feet. I think the failed option play on fourth down at Alabama is a good example of this. When Ealy slows down, he becomes incredibly vulnerable. He doesn’t have the ability of Conner to stay on balance through contact. Ealy’s at his best when he see the hole and goes, as simple as that sounds. “I said with Lebby on the headset, that’s how it’s supposed to look,” Kiffin said of Ealy’s 3rd-and-19 run in the first quarter.
If Ealy runs like that every time he touches the ball, think about how much that stresses opposing defenses when he is on the field in third and long situations. Defenses have to respect his ability to pop off a chunk play, even in obvious passing situations. Saturday felt like Ealy regained his identity as a runner.
It’s likely not something this coaching staff wanted to do, but the Rebels are formulating some depth out of necessity on the offensive line. Jordan Rhodes and Cedric Melton have played more snaps than anyone planned for them to. We saw Umana slide out to guard for the first time since arriving at Ole Miss. He had previous experience at guard while at Utah. But the point is that the Rebels have managed injuries to both of their starting guards pretty well. Like I mentioned earlier, they didn’t miss a beat without Brown and Warren on the field. Guard play is easier to mask than on the outside, and this team has been fortunate that Broeker and James have remained healthy, but to see the offensive line continuing to produce despite some key injuries is an encouraging sign. With that said, if another injury or two happens, I am not positive who would be up next as far as entering the rotation. The list is not promising after Melton and Ramsey.
Lebby and Kiffin stuck with the game plan and remained patient with the running game, despite some early dysfunction on offense. You could argue they had no other choice with Corral banged up and a couple of receivers out, but it’s worth noting the confidence and commitment to their preparation. You often see coaches in this sport deviate from the plan and end up aimlessly guessing. Ole Miss has had a purpose on offense each time it has taken the field and that is why you have seen the Rebels win games in a variety of different ways.
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Kiffin wasn’t completely lying about Corral
The Corral situation ended up playing out like most expected. He is clearly not 100 percent healthy, but he was always going to take the field on Saturday afternoon. Corral still somehow ended up running the football 12 times, but was not a focal point of the running game. Ole Miss won this game with Corral basically assuming the role of a game manager for most of this contest. It’s not an insult, but rather a product of his healthy and what he was working with around him. That’s also a credit to the running game and the defense for picking up the slack. Corral finished 18-23 for 185 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers. He scored a rushing touchdown too. There are a lot of schools that would kill for that stat line at the quarterback position each week, but expectations are higher with Corral. It’s not like he fell below expectations, I was just impressed with Ole Miss winning a game without Corral putting the offense and the team on his back. That’s a sign of team growth.
Who didn’t play at receiver on Saturday?
We discussed this at length last week: Ole Miss is struggling at receiver. Without Braylon Sanders and Jonathan Mingo, there really aren’t any difference makers other than Dontario Drummond. The way the game played out serves as evidence of this. Drummond had eight catches for 93 yards. No other receiver hard more than two catches and no one else reached 20 yards receiving. Henry Parrish actually finished second in yards with 38 on the day. You saw Miles Battle flip back to receiver from corner and even freshman J.J. Henry saw a target. The incomplete deep ball Corral threw to Henry down the near sideline was one of the classic ‘who? *checks roster* oh, him.’ moments. Henry was a guy the staff was high on in this 2021 recruiting class, we just haven’t seen him this year. That’s sort of the point.
We saw more Jadon Jackson than Dannis Jackson, which was a surprise. Casey Kelly caught a touchdown and the Rebels used John Rhys Plumlee for more than a handful of snaps. They seem to be trying anything and anyone they remotely trust to find a someone that can make in impact at receiver. Corral’s low yardage and completion numbers are largely a reflection of the receivers struggling to create separation. I have my doubts about Mingo returning this year, but the Rebels would benefit tremendously from getting Sanders back healthy for the Auburn game. This receiving corps is pretty toothless with Drummond and a patchwork cast of other guys out there.
The game was won with defense
It’s hard to dispute that. LSU came out with a couple of run concepts it used to gash Florida and had success on the first two drives. When the Tigers went up 7-0, Ole Miss punted again and Ty Davis-Price broke a couple of productive runs on the ensuing drive, I wondered if it was about to be a long, disappointing day for Ole Miss. To the defense’s credit, the group stiffened up. The goal line stop that culminated with a Tysheem Johnson interception changed the feel of the game. That goal line stand included a hell of a play from Chance Campbell filling a hole, Otis Reece preventing a three-yard run from becoming a six-yard touchdown, and the defensive line getting a great push on a third down run. Ole Miss simply didn’t have that type of stop, for four downs, in the cards last season. For all of the defense’s flaws, this staff has utilized the transfer portal well to improve this defense.
After that, LSU couldn’t do much of anything. The Tigers rushed the ball 21 times for 71 yards at 3.2 yards per rush in the first half. They finished the game with 77 rushing yards. Ole Miss sacked Max Johnson five times and flustered him with consistent pressure. The defense’s ability to hold down the fort and get a couple of stops amid some offensive dysfunction early on in the game is a sign of growth. In 2020, had this offense spun its wheels for a quarter and a half like it did on Saturday, Ole Miss likely loses the game. The defense has now played eight straight quarters of quality football. If it continues this level of play, the conversation about what this team can accomplish changes. It’s already changing. Some thoughts:
We now have more of a sample size of the impact Jake Springer’s return makes. Ole Miss just looks different when he’s on the field. He’s constantly around the football. He’s good in blitzing scenarios and he seems to make those around him more confident. D.J. Durkin is certainly more aggressive with Springer on the field. Otis Reese is better served with Springer out there because it moves him back to a more natural nickel position in which he doesn’t have to constantly line up one-on-one with guys in pass coverage. That’s not Reese’s strength. Ole Miss needs Springer healthy. I guess it just took him returning to realize that, which makes sense considering we only had a four quarter sample size of him on the field prior to his return against Tennessee.
Sam Williams had a great day. So did Cedric Johnson. The Ole Miss pass rush netted five sacks and six hurries. That’s by far the best pass rush output of the year against an opponent with a pulse. Beyond Williams getting to the quarterback with a strip sack, he made a couple of plays against the run, which is something that’s been lacking in his game this year despite the overall improvement in consistency with Williams. Johnson’s strip sack came at a crucial moment in the second half that swung the pendulum of the game and all but quelled LSU’s chances of a comeback. The main thing that stuck out with this defensive line is that there was a bit more of a rotation. The starting three didn’t play a ridiculous amount of snaps with the little depth behind them filling in intermittently. Ole Miss played 70 snaps on defense, and with the exception of Sam Williams’ 53 snaps, no other defensive lineman played more than 42. That matters, particularly at a position that has been desperately longing for depth.
I have no idea if there is a correlation here, but Mark Robinson led the team in tackles for the second consecutive game. That’s both games since Jake Springer returned from injury and both games since this shift in aggressiveness from defensive play calling standpoint. Again, it could be nothing. I am not about to pretend that I am smart enough to tell you why that does or does not correlate, but I do think, at the very least, it speaks to my point about this defense looking and playing more confidently with No. 1 on the field.
Last prevailing thought
Ole Miss handled its business against a team that could best be described as a talented mess. In year’s past, I am not sure an injured Ole Miss offense does enough to overcome an incompetent defense. In year’s past the Rebels are far less prepared and do not maximize what they do have on offense in the way that the current coaching staff has. This was a great win. And now the Rebels have one more chapter in a month of October that has had a theme of survival — just doing whatever it can on a weekly basis to escape with a win and hopefully get healthy before the next battle.
Now, the path to a historic season seems clear: if Ole Miss can somehow come out of Auburn, Alabama, with a win next Saturday night, it will get a pseudo bye week against Liberty (spare me the ‘Malik 'Willis-Hugh Freeze friskiness’ takes. Liberty lost outright as a 32-point favorite to ULM two weeks ago) before a massive contest against Texas A&M against Oxford. If the Rebels can get healthy — and who really knows what that actually looks like — and beat A&M in Oxford, they’re knocking on the doorstep of an 11-1 season. Those talks are real with a win over Auburn. It’s premature for now, but surviving Tennessee and LSU has given them a chance to make this discussion real.
Again, what a place to be two years removed from a Rich Rod-Plumlee duo being the selling point of this program. It’s truly remarkable.
Around the SEC:
This past weekend was the first weekend I have been home with nothing to do in over a month. I was greeted with the worst college football slate of the year. Rather than trudge through an assessment of all 14 times like we usually do, since like seven of them were on a bye, I’ll just react to each game.
Alabama 52, Tennessee 24 - the final score didn’t reflect how close this was. Alabama is good but mortal. The Vols simply don’t have the depth or the athletes.
Mississippi State 38, Vanderbilt 6 - I said on Thursday that I didn’t think Mississippi State was as bad of a team as it looked like for the first four weeks, and if the Bulldogs throttled Vanderbilt, that would be evidence of that. They certainly did just that. Credit to them. This Kentucky game should be fascinating.
Texas A&M 44, South Carolina 14 - The Aggies ran over an inferior team. I still have no idea how to evaluate Zach Calzada. I think A&M is good and the Mississippi State game as an outlier? They have a bye before playing Auburn. This November SEC slate is going to be a treat.
Ole Miss 31, LSU 17 - I thought LSU might quit. It didn’t quit. But what you saw on Saturday was all of the on-field reasons why a change was made and why Ed Orgeron will not return. But there are off-field reasons, too, and it would be silly to simply say it’s a product of not winning enough. That said, LSU is a talented mess.
On the horizon:
Auburn preview pod with beat writer Bennett Durando
Football-centric newsletters
A Magnolia State golf update
Friday picks pod
That is all from me today. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun by hitting the subscribe button below. It is free.