The Ole Miss Rebels improved to 4-0 in 2014 with a 24-3 win over the Memphis Tigers Saturday night. The win sets up a huge showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide next week in Oxford with major national and SEC West implications.

Here are five takeaways from Ole Miss’ critical victory over Memphis:

  1. Bo Wallace was able to hide his turnover problems, but he never actually solved the problem. Wallace threw two more interceptions and lost a fumble against the Tigers, and it nearly cost the Rebels as they led just 7-3 through three quarters. He found wideout Laquon Treadwell for a few big completions, including a pair of touchdowns, but completed only 59 percent of his passes in his first game with fewer than 300 yards in 2014. Wallace began to force throws as the offense’s struggles continued, and when Wallace forces the ball he only makes matters worse. Ole Miss hadn’t struggled on offense in its last two games, thus Wallace was able to mask his turnover issues. However, when tested by an above-average Memphis defense, Wallace began forcing again, and he had a terrible game headlined by three turnovers. Wallace must resolve these issues before Ole Miss reaches its SEC West schedule, or the Rebels offense will underachieve all year the way it did against the Tigers.
  2. Once again the Rebels defense proves it is one of the best units in the nation. There are good performances, there are great performance and then there are spectacular performances. The Ole Miss defense was simply spectacular in shutting down the Memphis offense on Saturday, limiting the Tigers to barely 100 yards of total offense for the game while recording a whopping 12 tackles for loss. The Rebels have now allowed just 34 points in four games this season, an average of just 8.5 points per game, which ranks Ole Miss third in the entire nation in scoring defense. The Rebels defense is complete in every area, including a great pass rushing defensive line, physical linebackers and a dynamic secondary with great instincts capable of covering a ton of ground. Ole Miss will be tough to score on all year, which will bail the team out when its offense struggles like it did against Memphis.
  3. Laquon Treadwell is still one of the best wideouts in the SEC. Treadwell had a quiet first three weeks of the season, but he nearly doubled his production so far this season with his performance against Memphis. He caught only five passes, but racked up 123 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday’s victory, showing why he is still the most explosive member of the Ole Miss offense. Treadwell has battled heavy coverages on his side of the field often this season, and rather than over-assert himself he’s allowed his teammates to take advantage on the other side of the field, especially Cody Core and Vince Sanders. However, Saturday night Treadwell had a breakout performance, and Ole Miss needed every yard and both touchdowns to win the game. When Treadwell is rolling, he is nearly impossible to stop, and he and Wallace have a connection that is second-to-none. Alabama will load up its coverages on Treadwell in aiming to eliminate the threat he presents early in next week’s game.
  4. Ole Miss cannot commit as many penalties as it did against Memphis and expect to win games against SEC opponents. Ole Miss was unacceptably sloppy regarding penalties Saturday night, and although there were a couple questionable calls and a couple calls simply resulting from a chippy game, there were still far too many flags pulled for Ole Miss infractions. The Rebels were flagged 10 times for 117 yards, meaning the Rebels forfeited more than an entire field’s worth of yards due to penalties. Heck, Memphis was actually given more first downs through Ole Miss penalties (5) than it earned through the run (4) or the pass (4). Turnovers and penalties routinely killed Ole Miss drives, which is why the Rebels did not begin scoring in bunches until the fourth quarter, and it is no coincidence that the Rebels two most penalized games were its two closest contests: Boise State and now Memphis. If the Rebels are flagged 10 times against Alabama, they’ll lose, it’s as simple as that. The Rebels must play more disciplined going forward.
  5. Ole Miss could not have been classier in the way it honored the late Chucky Mullins Saturday night. The Rebels wore powder blue helmets resembling the program’s 1989 helmets, the same year Mullins was paralyzed from the neck down during a hit on Vanderbilt’s Brad Gaines (who was in Oxford for the weekend’s festivities). Ole Miss also painted large “38” patches into both end zones of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, and the team even warmed up in different helmets with a large 38 printed on the side of every one. The night was about Mullins, not about Ole Miss, and those special tributes made the win over Memphis more than just another victory in 2014. The Rebels were not obligated to do anything more than piece together a touching video montage, but they went above and beyond to show how much Mullins still means to the program and the Ole Miss community. Tributes like that remind fans how much more football can be than just a game, and Ole Miss was fantastic in the way it honored Mullins Saturday night.