Ole Miss handled Louisville soundly in a 43-24 victory Monday night. The Rebels looked improved on defense, and the offense was as good as advertised, even without Lane Kiffin on the sideline.

Let’s take a look at each position group and give some grades.

The offensive line: B+

Ole Miss ran for 188 yards at 4.2 yards per rush, but I thought there was a little bit left to be desired in the running game, particularly as it pertained to some of the outside run concepts with Jerrion Ealy and Henry Parrish. The unit allowed a pair of sacks, but was otherwise good in pass protection. One looked to be a missed blitz pick up and the other was hardly the line’s fault. Ben Brown left the game midway through and we saw a heavy dose of Bryce Ramsey on the interior. Ole Miss can’t afford a rash of injuries here, but as long as Brown is not out for an extended period of time, the o-line should be fine heading into the next couple of weeks.

This group performed well enough for the Rebels to win.

Running backs: B

Snoop Conner (7.5 ypc, 2 TDs) had a great game and a man-sized touchdown run late to put the game out of reach, but I thought we’d see a little bit more from Parrish and Ealy. Neither were bad by any stretch, and Ealy 55 yards on 3 catches in the passing game, but if you’d told me before the game that Parrish and Ealy would combine for just 77 yards on 20 carries, I wouldn’t have liked Ole Miss’ chances as much.

Ole Miss wore down Louisville with the running game in the second half and did so in what was clearly not a peak performance from the running backs group. That’s a sign of the depth at this position as well as good guard play on the offensive line. The Rebels led the SEC in rushing a season ago and looked poised to contend for that title again this year.

Quarterback: A-

Matt Corral finished 22-32 for 381 with a touchdown and no turnovers. Aside from forcing it into a couple of tight windows on the second drive, he was close to flawless. He didn’t force the issue and wasn’t fazed by some of the zone concepts Louisville threw at him.

Corral established an early connection with Dontario Drummond, primarily out of the slot, and rode that heavily throughout the night.

Corral also was effective in the running game. He ran it 12 times for 55 yards and made good mesh-point decisions in the read-option game. I doubt Ole Miss will want to run him much more than that just from a sheer risk of injury standpoint, but Corral’s feet were an important piece to the offense moving the football, especially since other pieces of the running game sputtered a bit. He was decisive and effective. Ole Miss will take 11 more games just like that from Corral.

Receivers: B

Drummond would get an A+ as an individual grade. He caught 9 passes for 177 yards and a score in what is a very welcomed sign for the coaching staff and fans.

The question that loomed all offseason was who would step up in replacing Elijah Moore. Drummond answered the bell. He was effective out of the slot and Louisville really didn’t have an answer for him.

No other receiver had more than 2 catches as Corral hit 7 targets on the night. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the Rebels simply rode the Drummond matchup up and down the field, but there were some route-running mishaps between the receivers and Corral, which is likely nothing more than working out some early-season kinks.

This group can play better collectively, but the Drummond performance is a great sign for this group going forward.

Tight ends: B

Ole Miss used Chase Rogers in a variety of ways in run blocking concepts and he had a pair of catches. Corral targeted Hudson Wolfe early on but couldn’t complete it. Aside from that, the tight ends didn’t stand out in the passing game.

Defensive line: A

Quinten Bivens should be the team’s MVP of the night. He was a monster in the middle and disrupted Louisville’s running game. Bivens only had 3 tackles, but his impact had a much larger reach than that. He played so well that we did not get to see a lot of the two JUCO transfers Isaiah Iton and Jamond Gordon. Those two will be needed as the season progresses, but this night belonged to Bivens. Ole Miss sacked Malik Cunningham twice, 1 of which belonged to Sam Williams, and routinely kept him uncomfortable in the passing game. There’s still a ways to go on the defensive line as far as depth and top-end talent is concerned, but this group played well on Monday night and was a huge reason Ole Miss won.

Linebackers: A-

Maryland transfer Chance Campbell is a difference-maker and a legitimately good SEC linebacker. This was evident from the first snap. He finished with 7 tackles, including 3 solo and 1.5 for loss. He flew around the field and made an impact in the running game and pass rush. It’s been awhile since Ole Miss has had a player of this caliber at the linebacker position. Campbell was a huge get in the offseason.

Mark Robinson played well up until his ejection for targeting in the first half. Ole Miss lost Robinson and Lakia Henry to targeting and didn’t miss much of a beat. Momo Sanogo and Ashanti Cistrunk filled in nicely alongside Campbell and Austin Keys recovered a fumble. The talent pool is improving at linebacker and it was on display last night.

Secondary: A+

Maybe A grades across the board is too generous, but Ole Miss hadn’t held an opponent scoreless in a half since 2016. This defense was the story of the night after 3 years of futility. The secondary picked off Cunningham and held him to 200 yards passing. The Rebels will take that every game this season. Deantre Prince registered an interception. Otis Reese led the team in tackles and freshman Tysheem Johnson saw a lot of snaps.

The improved depth was on display here and this group played well as a result.