Hugh Freeze recaps Arkansas, previews Egg Bowl
Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze had his weekly meeting with the media on Monday.
The third-year head man recapped the Rebels’ 30-0 shutout loss at the hands of Arkansas on Saturday afternoon and previewed the matchup against No. 4 Mississippi State.
- “Obviously, coming off a very disappointing showing at Arkansas.”
- Freeze says he told staff and team that only thankfulness can take the sting out of disappointment
- “I’ve found that I can give thanks in everything regardless of my feelings, I usually can find some joy and peace regardless of my circumstances.”
- “The first thing we talked about is being able to represent this great university in the Egg Bowl.”
- Freeze said he expects to have a great week of preparation and that Ole Miss will be ready to play on Saturday
- Calls Mississippi State “a very good football team”
- Says Dak Prescott makes them “better than very good”
- Praises job of Dan Mullen in six years on the job
- “Any time your quarterback plays that special and you assemble the pieces around him, that’s a very solid football team.”
- Says Bulldogs do good job of developing the kids they recruit
- Calls Prescott “a great leader”
- “You put his performance with those leadership qualities, he’s a pretty special player.”
- Bo Wallace suffered a sprained ankle against Arkansas
- “It will take a lot more than that to keep him out of this game.”
- Says his players didn’t lack understanding of importance of game in 2013
- Freeze doesn’t credit lack of effort for Arkansas loss
- Says defense played great and “kept us in it”
- Reiterates importance of Egg Bowl to recruiting
- Says relationships built with kids typically win out over final score of the game
- Freeze says if Rebels could’ve gotten a couple touchdowns on red zone opportunities against Arkansas, could’ve been a different game
- “You can’t turn the ball over like that and put your backs against the wall.”