Ole Miss has the opportunity to improve this week, as it hosts Southeastern Louisiana following the win over Arkansas last week 31-17.

The best part about Saturday’s matchup? Playing the FCS opponent will allow head coach Matt Luke to play some younger guys.

How big was the Arkansas win?

Many believed Ole Miss had to win its SEC opener last week to keep fans interested. An 0-2 start, with a loss to Arkansas, might have been too much to take. Little did we know, it would be more important than we thought.

Throughout the week, the coaching staff and the players treated Arkansas with the utmost importance. Translation: It was a must-win, but they would said that publicly.

The good news, Ole Miss doesn’t have to worry about the bad outcome and can focus on the good outcome it had and look ahead to the remainder of the schedule. That schedule, which is daunting, still has some opportunities for wins. By taking care of Arkansas, it must now carve out a path to 6 wins.

The improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 was impressive

When you end the half with (-1) rushing yards, things tend to not go your way. Against Memphis in the opener, Ole Miss found itself in this predicament.

Against Arkansas, Ole Miss finished with 237 rushing yards, dominating the defensive front the entire night. Scottie Phillips was the workhorse, carrying  26 times for 145 yards. Matt Corral rebounded from a poor Week 1. Against Arkansas, he was on point, finishing with 246 yards and 2 touchdowns. His numbers, 16-for-24, were impressive but the big number was no interceptions.

It truly was a night and day situation for the Rich Rodriguez-led offense. Rodriguez apologized for his and his team’s effort after the Memphis loss, but he was very happy with the performance in Week 2.

Defensively, Ole Miss continues to play well. Against the Hogs, Ole Miss held Arkansas to only 61 rushing yards. As for phenom running back Rakeem Boyd, he was held to only 67 yards on 17 carries. To put those numbers in perspective, Ole Miss gave up 300 yards rushing to the Hogs last season.

One reason the defense has been a bright spot this season: the improvement in the red zone has been good. Ole Miss only gave up 2 red zone scores and held the Razorbacks to 0-2 on 4th-down tries.

Mike MacIntyre has changed the culture of the defense

Breaking down the numbers from last season, they are staggering. While the Rebels have yet to play the likes of Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Mississippi State, it can’t be said enough how the defense has improved. Let’s take a look at a few numbers.

As it stands, the Rebels are 33rd in the nation in scoring defense. Last season it ended the year 113th.

The Rebels are 66th in total defense, compared to last year’s finish of 121.

Ole Miss might not stay as high in the coming weeks, but what MacIntyre and the entire defensive staff have done is incredible.

The offensive line made the biggest improvement of all the positions

Ole Miss and its line controlled the game against Arkansas. Schematically, it appeared the entire group was on the same page, but it also looked like they were giving more effort. Against Memphis, confusion was constant throughout the entire 1st half, but that can’t be said regarding the play against Arkansas.

It was a complete turn from Week 1 to Week 2, exactly what offensive line coach Jack Bicknell was looking for. Another interesting note, freshman Nick Broeker was platooning with starting left tackle Michael Howard. It appears Broeker will be the standard sooner rather than later for the Rebels.

Ole Miss regained some momentum last week. It’s time to build and add to that positive energy on Saturday.