The oddsmakers pinned Saturday’s game in Oxford as a close game and that proved to be the case as Cal outlasted Ole Miss 28-20. The programs met for the second time ever. The only other meeting happened in 2017 in Berkeley with the Golden Bears winning 27-16.

Ole Miss freshman quarterback John Rys Plumlee led a comeback. The former Oak Grove (Hattiesburg, Miss.) High School standout led the Rebels on a scoring drive to cut the Cal lead to eight — and, many would argue, scored on his second drive with a pass to Elijah Moore.

On the day, Plumlee had 53 rushing yards on just 3-carries and needed just 1 more yard for a chance to force overtime.

Controversially, Moore was called down short of the goal line by the Pac-12 officiating crew on third down. Ole Miss had an opportunity to score on fourth down but Plumlee was ruled short on a run.

The Rebels were out of timeouts and could not spike the ball to stop the clock. Oddly enough, the play was not reviewed by the Pac-12 replay officials.

“I thought at the very least it should have been buzzed and reviewed and looked at. We couldn’t spike it or call a time out so we ran the sneak,” Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke on the second-to-last play not being reviewed.

Ole Miss interim Director of Athletics Keith Carter would not go on the record but noted he would exhaust all options to receive an explanation.

Before the controversy, the third quarter proved to be the difference, as the Golden Bears outscored the Rebels 14-0.

Ole Miss (2-2, 1-0 SEC) has a tall task in front of it as the Rebels travels to face the Alabama Crimson Tide next week on CBS.

Offense: C

Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral was impressive early running the RPO offense, finishing with 56 yards on 16 carries, but the forward pass got the redshirt freshman in trouble.

The numbers weren’t bad — 22-for-41, 266 yards — he overthrew and missed wide open receivers in the first half and that would seal his fate.

Secondly, Ole Miss still doesn’t have a receiver to complement Elijah Moore. During the game, 10 different receivers caught passes but no one separated themselves. Moore was fantastic, snagging 11 catches for 102 yards.

The most glaring absence for the Rebels was in the running game. The Rebels leading running back, Scottie Phillips, had only 54 yards on 14 carries and no touchdowns. The Cal defense controlled the line of scrimmage and all but eliminated freshman Jerrion Ealy. He only had four carries for 25 yards and was simply a non-factor.

Defense: D

The Cal offensive line also controlled the line of scrimmage the entire afternoon, many times setting a pocket for what felt like an eternity.

When veterans talk about games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage, this game was an example. The Bears gave quarterback Chase Garbers an enormous amount of time to throw the football the entire day. He took advantage of the dominated Ole Miss defensive front by having a masterful day, throwing for 357 yards and 4 touchdowns. He finished the day 23-for-35 and with a QB rating of 183.4.

To the defensive line’s defense, in this case, the Ole Miss secondary left receivers wide open all day. Coordinator Mike MacIntyre had to rush only a select few players at a time. In turn, that put a lot of pressure on the defensive line, which sometimes rushed only three players to try to get to Garbers.

It didn’t happen very often.

The defensive backfield simply cannot be trusted and that does not bode well with opponents like Alabama, Mizzou, Texas A&M, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State coming. Busts were rampant in the loss, with flashbacks to last season, a season Ole Miss fans would rather forget.

Ole Miss started Keidron Smith at cornerback over Jaylon Jones but neither could do anything against the Cal receivers. Jordan Duncan and Jake Tonges combined for eight catches, 151-yards and two TDs.

Both outside linebackers Qaadir Sheppard and Sam Williams struggled to cover the running backs out of the backfield, similar to the game the previous week against Southeast Louisiana.

Special Teams: C

Ole Miss punter Mac Brown was superb all day, averaging 44 yards on five punts and pinning Cal inside the 20-yard line three times. But Rebels kicker Luke Logan continued to struggle, only making 2-of-4 field goals in crucial situations.

Absent for Ole Miss is any return game, both punt or kickoff, of substance. The Golden Bears did a great job bottling up both Elijah Moore and Jerrion Ealy.

The Bottom Line

At 2-2, Ole Miss has an upcoming schedule that is not conducive to reaching six wins and bowl eligibility for a program looking to get to a bowl game for the first time since 2015. Had the Rebs beaten Cal they would have a glimpse of hope with three winnable games ahead. As it stands, four more wins doesn’t seem in the realm of possibility.

Quotables:

“This is a very tough loss, the kids fought their hearts out and I’m proud of the way our kids are fighting,” Luke said. “We’ll continue to move forward.”

“I’m not going to comment on that. I’ve been fined $10,000 for that before and not going to make that mistake again,” MacIntyre, about the Elijah Moore play not being reviewed.