What to watch for as Ole Miss battles Tulane
The Rebels face a daunting road test. What might determine the outcome of the game?
Ole Miss will face its first real test on Saturday against a ranked opponent in front of a sold out crowd.
Tulane destroyed South Alabama 37-17 in its season opener. That South Alabama team returned 19 starters from a 10-win season in 2022. The Jaguars were a 10-6 loss to Troy away from playing in the Sun Belt Championship game. Why is that relevant? Well, if you want to play the transitive property game, Troy was statistically Ole Miss’ best win last season. The Trojans were the only team the Rebels beat that finished the season in the top 25.
The Green Wave very much looked like a team whose preseason ranking was justified. Here’s more on the Rebels’ opponent and what might peak your interest while watching the game.
Will the Rebels’ secondary be up to the challenge?
Tulane lost its top two receivers from the 2022 Cotton Bowl-winning team in Shae Wyatt and Duece Watts. Earlier this week, I had Tulane beat writer Guerry Smith on the podcast and he said that he thinks the Green Wave’s receiving core this year will be better than last year. On the surface, that seems like a puzzling claim given that they lost their top two receivers, but if you look into it a little further, the theory has merit. Tulane had five players with at least 25 receptions last year. Wyatt led with 35 and Watts tied for second with 33. Of the five players with 25 or more catches, all of them were within 10 receptions of one another and the top four had between 30-35. Veteran quarterback Michael Pratt dispersed the football pretty equally.
Jha’Quan Jackson, a guy you will see a lot of tomorrow, tied Watts with 33 receptions. Lawrence Keys, another returning receiver, netted 30 catches on the season. Jackson is a 5-foot-10, 185-pound receiver with great speed. He popped off an 87-yard touchdown in the Cotton Bowl win over USC. Keys has a similar build. Tulane’s receiving corps is headed by two smaller receivers who utilize speed to gain an advantage. Chris Brazzell, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound redshirt freshman, is the guy with a more traditional outside receiver build.
There was some discussion this week about Ole Miss’ speed, or lack thereof, on the defensive side of the ball, particularly on the back end of the defense. While I don’t find that to be completely meritless after watching the game again on Sunday, I do find it difficult to make any sort of concrete determinations off of a 73-7 win over a Mercer team that ran a unique offense with a lot of pre-snap shifts, motions and bunch formations. With that said, I think we will have a much better idea of whether speed will be an issue for the Rebels on defense after this game, and I think this will be a pretty tough test for the secondary.
If you watched Tulane’s win over South Alabama, the Green Wave won in convincing fashion primarily due to the Jaguars’ inability to cover Tulane’s receivers in the passing game. When quarterback Michael Pratt left the game midway through the fourth quarter with a leg injury, he was 14-15 for 294 yards and four touchdowns, which averaged to over 19 yards per completion. The South Alabama secondary had no answers for the speed of the Tulane receivers.
In my opinion, the biggest question surrounding the Ole Miss defense entering the year was the secondary. I think the fact that they brought in so many portal guys is evidence of that. I liked how Zamari Walton looked and played in the opener at the other corner spot, but again, we just don’t know a whole lot about this team or this secondary yet. I am fascinated to see how they hold up on Saturday.
Vanderbilt weekend is STILL available at RentTheSip Oxford. Finding a place to stay on big Oxford weekends can be difficult. RentTheSipOxford.com has you covered. Their Turnberry unit is located less than a mile from campus on Old Taylor Road, sleeps 8 people comfortably and has - tremendous amenities like a tennis court, pool and a sauna -- and it's all gated. They still have availability for the Mercer, Vandy and ULM football weekends as well as Bid Day. Use the promocode "RippeeWrites" and that'll knock $100 bucks off your overall rate. It's a great place run by great people. Stay at RentTheSipOxford and thank me later.
Can the Rebels generate a consistent pass rush?
Tulane has a three-year starter at quarterback in Pratt. He’s a very good college quarterback and his mobility is a large part of the Tulane offense. Pratt has rushed the ball over 230 times combined the last two seasons. He’s developed as a passer too. In 2021, he completed 57 percent of his throws with an average of 7.3 yards per completion. In 2022, his completion percentage jumped to 63.6 at a rate of 8.9 yard per completion.
As I mentioned earlier, Pratt exited last week’s game midway through the fourth quarter after a defender rolled on his left leg. Pratt is expected to play, but how healthy is he? How mobile is he? His feet are a core component to the Tulane offense. Regardless of those two questions, Ole Miss’ ability to generate a consistent pass rush will loom large in this game. That is not exactly earth-shattering analysis, as a good pass rush is critical in any football game, but even more so in this match up considering a mobile quarterback is dealing with a leg injury and is throwing to a group of speedy receivers against a secondary with a lot of new faces.
Cedric Johnson is the most proven pass rusher on this team. In 2021, he was the proverbial Robin to Batman Sam Williams. It made for one hell of a pass rush, particularly toward the end of that season. Johnson was moved around and used in a variety of different ways last week in the win over Mercer. How effective will Johnson be as a rusher and who emerges as a complimentary threat on the other side? Ole Miss appears to have more depth on the defensive line than it did a year ago, but a bulk of that depth appears to be on the interior, or at least within the three down lineman in Pete Golding’s 3-4 scheme. Can any of them, or perhaps one of the linebackers, fit the mold of an above average pass rusher to compliment Johnson? Injuries played Johnson last year and his health and effectiveness as a pass rusher will be crucial to this team’s success.
We are thrilled to welcome 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.
How many snaps does Suntarine Perkins play
The ultra-talented true freshman certainly looked the part in his first collegiate game. If there are questions about the overall speed on defense, I think Perkins can be omitted from that discussion based on what I saw last Saturday. He looked fast and explosive. The next question is how heavily is Ole Miss willing to rely on a true freshman. How many snaps does he play? Perkins will be a tremendous player by the time he leaves Ole Miss, but he’s still a true freshman. How much can Ole Miss rely on him and how willing is Golding to lean on a young player? I think he will be ultimately left with no choice other than to play Perkins like a starter and I am interested to see how much, if at all, his snap count increases in week two.
A key injury on Tulane’s defense
Linebacker Corey Platt left Tulane’s season-opening game with an achilles injury. He is not expected to play in this game. I am not a doctor, but I have never heard of an achilles injury that is a short-term issue. Smith, the aforementioned Tulane beat writer, described this as a critical loss for the Green Wave, to the point of it altering his prediction of the game’s outcome. The biggest difference between good Group of Five teams and Power Five teams is depth. Yes, of course the top end talent isn’t the same, but in a lot of cases, the disparity isn’t as large as it is when it comes to overall roster depth.
The majority of the notes in this column were defense-centric, mostly because I believe the Ole Miss offense will score a lot of points in this game and I believe the Rebels’ fate will ultimately be decided by how the defense plays against a very good Tulane offense. But one offense-related subplot I am interested in is how heavily Ole Miss leans on its running game. I am pretty confident the Rebels will have success running the football against Tulane. Ole Miss has led the SEC in rushing offense in two of the three years Kiffin has been in Oxford and finished tied for second in 2021. One of Kiffin’s greatest strengths as a head coach (and innovative offensive mind) is his ability to generate consistent success running the football and his willingness to adapt to the opponent on a weekly basis. Remember when Matt Corral had 20-something carries in that road win at Tennessee? It wasn’t ideal to run the quarterback that many times, but that is what was needed to win the game. That version of the offense was different from the version that beat Texas A&M and LSU later in the year. It’s one of the most impressive attributes Kiffin has.
With Tulane’s best linebacker sidelined with an injury, how heavily do the Rebels lean on Quinshon Judkins and what does his workload look like? Zach Evans was an undervalued component of the success the 2022 team had in the running game. Ole Miss doesn’t win at Texas A&M without Evans’ gutsy performance while dealing with an injury. There is no Evans this year. So, who is the complimentary back? Due to injuries, we’ve yet to see what Ulysses Bentley really is as a player. I think the late addition of Oregon State transfer Jam Griffin will prove to be a valuable one. I was also surprised that true freshman Kedrick Reescano did not play in the season opener. How many carries Judkins has and how the workload behind him is divided up interests me.
I think Ole Miss runs for a bunch of yards against Tulane and I think it will be a primary factor in why it wins the game.
Football season will be here before we know it. 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 next football season. They’re the best in the business. And while you wait, build up your bank roll by using their SKYBOX NASCAR PICKS. They rack up units every single week. That’s all in addition to the promo code “RIPPEE” getting you 20 percent off any purchase. Buy it now, use their picks, make a profit and thank me (and SkyBox) later.
What to do at tight end?
I don’t expect Caden Prieskorn to play in this game. I cannot possibly forecast any real expectations for Michael Trigg at this point in his career. Hudson Wolfe was injured after a catch last week and I would be surprised if he played. Will Prieskorn’s absence and the lack of depth at tight end end up being an issue for the Rebels?
The best versions of Lane Kiffin offenses have most always included a legitimate weapon at tight end. I don’t think this is an issue that will sink or swim Ole Miss in this particular game, but I am curious to see how it’s handled and how it changes the offense.
To conclude this column, I think Ole Miss wins this game. I just don’t know by how many points, and I think that is because of the uncertainty on the defensive side. That’s natural given the amount of new faces on the depth chart. I think we will know a lot more about this defense and this team after this weekend.
Official prediction: Ole Miss 41, Tulane 28
Enjoy the game. We will have more on Sunday.
As a Rippee Writes subscriber, LB’s Meat Market will give you a 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.