The Ole Miss Rebels dropped their third consecutive game on Saturday afternoon, falling 38-24 at Texas A&M. The Rebels fell to 5-5 (1-5 SEC) in a season which has essentially fallen off the rails in recent weeks because of an inconsistent offense and consistently horrible defense.
Here are three things I liked in the Rebels’ loss, along with five things I didn’t like.
What I liked
3. Defense forcing two turnovers: The Rebels forced two big turnovers early in the second half including a 96-yard fumble returned for a touchdown by Zedrick Woods. On the day, Mississippi won the turnover battle 2-1 The defense as a whole has done a pretty good job this year generating turnovers, particularly forcing fumbles.
2. First-half defense: The Rebels defense was actually pretty stout in the first half, holding the Aggies to 210 yards and 14 points. Granted, those aren’t great numbers, but it’s about as good as this defense is going to get. The problem is that the defense can’t string together four consecutive quarters of decent play, and inevitably the wheels come off at some point, either because the Ole Miss defense can’t get off the field on third down or it fails to stop the run. This was the case in the second half.
1. A.J. Brown and DaMarkus Lodge: Two guys you can’t blame the loss on are receivers A.J. Brown and DaMarkus Lodge, who each caught six passes for a combined 249 yards. Both played very well, showing soft hands and picking up chunks of yardage after catches. Brown not only broke the school record for career receiving yards, but became the first player in program history with consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. He obviously has been great all year but has really come on strong in the past three games, catching 22 passes for 397 yards. Enjoy him while he’s still in Oxford, folks, because he’s already one of the school’s all-time greats.
What I didn’t like
5. Scottie Phillips going down: The Rebels star tailback went down early in the game against the Aggies with an ankle injury and never returned. As a result, the rushing attack was completely stagnant; Ole Miss ran for 67 yards on 30 carries, averaging just 2.2 yards. Phillips is arguably the one guy on offense that the Rebels can’t afford to lose because they have poor depth at the position, and his absence turns the offense one-dimensional, which in turn hurts the defense.
4. Allowing 500 yards….again: The defense allowed 502 yards of offense and has now allowed 500 or more yards in exactly half of its games this year. They’ve allowed at least 477 yards in eight games, which is simply staggering. I know coordinator Wesley McGriff deserves the lion’s share of the blame, but with poor talent, little depth and an offense that can’t maintain possession, there’s only so much he can do. It’s really going to be interesting to see what head coach Matt Luke decides to do after the season regarding the staff on defense.
3. Offense can’t capitalize on momentum: It’s no secret the Rebels defense is quite poor so any time it does something well, like force a turnover or a three-and-out series, it’s absolutely critical that the offense capitalizes on the opportunity. Ole Miss forced turnovers on the first two Aggies drives in the second half and even returned one for a TD, putting the Rebels up 21-14. How did the offense respond? The next three drives went for a combined 19 yards on 11 plays, all ending in punts. I know the pressure on the offense is immense (they’re literally expected to score on every possession if Ole Miss is to win), but the Rebels have to capitalize on any bone the defense throws their way.
2. Defense just can’t stop the run: It’s the same story every week. Life in the SEC is somewhat brutal when you can’t stop the run, and Ole Miss has continued to be awful in this regard. Texas A&M ran for 266 yards on 48 carries, or 5.5 yards per carry. Aggies RB Trayveon Williams was a tour de force, rushing for 228 yards and a TD on a season-high 31 carries for a whopping 7.4-yard average. The Rebels have allowed five of their six SEC opponents to rush for 210 yards or more.
1. Third-down woes: Good grief, were the Rebels bad on third down in College Station, both offensively and defensively. The offense was a combined 1 for 12 on third or fourth down, which played a huge role in the enormous time of possession edge the Aggies had (more than 37 minutes). The Aggies converted 7 of 12 third downs – also not great for Ole Miss. If the offense can’t stay on the field and the defense can’t get off it, it’s a bad recipe, as was the case Saturday afternoon.
Rick Stavig, who played at Ole Miss and Shippensburg University, is the owner of SE Scouting. A veteran scout, he specializes in the NFL Draft and recruiting coverage.
