Saturday’s was Joe Tessitore’s first game back announcing SEC football, but by the middle of the 3rd quarter, he had 2020 Ole Miss completely snuffed out.

Elijah Moore hauled in a long reception to get into the red zone. It was a well-designed call by Lane Kiffin. It was another instance in which the new Ole Miss coach took advantage of a Florida secondary that was without both senior starting safeties following Shawn Davis’ targeting ejection in the 1st quarter.

“Ole Miss doesn’t have a problem with getting into a track meet, except when you look at their defense. This offense can hang with anybody,” Tessitore said on the ESPN broadcast.

Yep. And that’s 2020 Ole Miss in a nutshell.

For the fans without a rooting interest, Kiffin’s Year 1 is going to be must-see TV. It’s like watching backyard football. I suppose dudes like Jerrion Ealy and Elijah Moore wouldn’t be playing your average game of pickup ball. If Saturday was any indication, Kiffin will need them to hit home run after home run to have a fighting chance against a team like Florida.

The same goes for Matt Corral. Telling it was that through 3 quarters, the Ole Miss quarterback was averaging 17.9 yards per attempt … and his team trailed by 20.

Yeah, it’s gonna be that kind of year.

Sure, Florida looked like an offensive juggernaut in the 51-35 victory. Kyle Trask was the first-team All-SEC quarterback in the preseason, and Kyle Pitts got All-America love as the nation’s best tight end. I’m pretty sure that Pitts had another touchdown by the time that I finished typing his sentence. Good luck to anyone who has to guard that man because Ole Miss didn’t provide any sort of answers.

And to be fair, Dan Mullen matching up with DJ Durkin (he hasn’t coached a decent defense since 2015) and Chris Partridge (he’s a first-time defensive coordinator) was always going to be a mismatch, especially coming off an offseason in which COVID-19 restrictions weren’t exactly conducive to a new coaching staff coming in and not getting spring football. The tackling on both sides was … yikes.

If you’re an Ole Miss fan who watched that game, you might’ve actually come away thinking that Kiffin called a better game than Mullen. Therein lies the problem with this 2020 Ole Miss team. Kiffin had wrinkles that reminded us why he’s the best offensive mind in the sport. John Rhys Plumlee played 3 positions in the first series. Corral looked about as good as Ole Miss fans could have hoped for, and no, I’m not talking about his new hairstyle.

Hey, you do you, man.

Corral is a key part of the identity of this team. Saturday only confirmed that. If there was an encouraging thing about watching the third-year quarterback, it was that playing in his third different offense in as many seasons, he couldn’t have looked more comfortable.

But Corral is gonna have to do this other thing more in 2020. That is, keep his head down and keep playing when his teammates on the other side of the ball can’t stop a nosebleed. In the beginning of the 4th quarter, Florida had more yards in an SEC game than it had since before the Tim Tebow era. The Gators finished with their most yards ever in an SEC game (642).

To Corral’s credit, he kept playing. He found promising tight end Kenny Yeboah, who extended his arm for a score to help make it a 2-score game early in the 4th quarter.

Of course, Pitts had another touchdown by the time that the 16,000 fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium were even finished celebrating.

(Yes, I agree that the “driving the quarterback into the ground” call was a massive swing that went Florida’s way. Still, Florida had 44 points by then. Tackling somebody earlier probably would have helped.)

There will be a time this year when Corral is going to rally Ole Miss back from a 2-score deficit, and Kiffin’s team will win a game that looked over. I truly believe that. Florida wasn’t that team. The Gators are No. 5 in the country coming off a pair of New Year’s 6 Bowl victories while Ole Miss is still searching for its first bowl berth since 2015.

Saturday showed that Kiffin is fully capable of taking advantage of some favorable matchups. As in, Ole Miss’ receivers against a depleted Florida secondary.

The weaknesses with Ole Miss are obvious. Trask made it look too easy. He was protected well. Well, with the exception of the MoMo Sanogo hit that probably should have counted. Tariqious Tisdale and Ryder Anderson were all over the place, too. If those guys continue to play with that kind of motor, they’ll make a momentum-shifting play in a key moment.

The ceiling, however, is limited. In a way, it’s reminiscent of 2017-18. The difference is that this isn’t a program being hit by sanctions, and with all due respect to Matt Luke, Kiffin calls a better game. You don’t have 5 first-team all-conference quarterbacks in 6 seasons by accident (he had 3 at Alabama and 2 at FAU).

In the final minute after Ole Miss’ last touchdown of the day, Tessitore summed it up best. He correctly declared that Ole Miss would be a “fun” team, and that it would be a great “TV team.” He’s right. We’re going to watch Kiffin’s squad make plays that remind us of 2014 Alabama when he was the team’s offensive coordinator.

Check that. We’re going to watch Kiffin’s offense* make plays that remind of his 2014 Alabama offense, which was a revelation.

Even that 2014 Alabama offense would have struggled to fuel wins if it had to play with this 2020 Ole Miss defense.

It was only Week 1. It could get better. It should get better.

In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy what’s sure to be one of the best “TV teams” in college football.