Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze had high praise for Florida State during Monday’s press conference.
“Top to bottom one of the better teams we’ve ever played during my tenure here,” Freeze said.
Fans can be a tad less complimentary, even when they are Florida fans, instead of Florida State fans.
Can't wait until all the noles claim the sec sucks after they spank one of our bottom feeders in ole miss.
— Ben (@Bencostantino11) August 25, 2016
The Rebels have reason for hope coming off a huge Sugar Bowl win, although they did lose all five starters off the offensive line from the blowout of Oklahoma State.
“Music to my ears. I fully expect the dline to get pressure on “SWAG” early and often,” posted arbnboogaloo on Florida State’s 247Sports message board.
Ole Miss QB Chad “Swag” Kelly will be starting a Heisman campaign in the opener, as will Seminoles RB Dalvin Cook.
Kelly threw for more than 4,000 yards last season and returns as the SEC’s top quarterback. That said, Ole Miss fans may expect a 300 or 400-yard game on Monday.
“LOL at this defense giving up 30 points,” VWEBBJR posted on the 247Sports board.
“Based on last year’s numbers, if I were an ole miss guy, I’d probably think he was going to tear us up also. I mean they watched him regularly throw for 300, 350, and over 400 yards at time,” FSUBone added. “They just forgot to think about the impact of losing talent. Kinda like Jameis from 13-14.”
DeMarcus Walker is one of the country’s top defensive ends, but there are hardcore Florida State fans with enough reasoning to believe Kelly can toss for 300 yards on the Seminoles’ defense.
Finding one who also believes the Rebels’ running game will beat them, that’s a different story. On top of the league in passing, Ole Miss was middle of the SEC in rushing last season.
“I think they *do* pass on us for 275-300+ yards or so, mainly because they have a very good passing game, but also because their run game is going to be inadequate so they’re going to have to make their way down the field through the air or not at all,” Subpart_F said. “Their interior DL is going to hurt us more than we want to believe, but the lack of quality LB & no Fadol Brown setting the edge is going to make things easy for Cook to break off a few big ones. I imagine about an interception a piece for each team.”
Some logical reasoning involved in that fan assessment, though Fadol Brown may actually be back to set some of those edges.
Florida State has opened up as a 5-point favorite in what could be considered its backyard in Orlando. Late Monday night, this same message board will be filled with either “I told you so” or “I didn’t see that coming (peppered with random ACC excuses).”
