Rebels wideouts must make plays vs. Horned Frogs
This year’s Peach Bowl features one of the more intriguing matchups of the bowl season, pitting Ole Miss and the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense against TCU and the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense.
It truly is a showdown between an unstoppable force and an immoveable object. Which is why this game could actually be decided when the Ole Miss offense and the TCU defense are on the field.
Ole Miss has the talent to put up points against the Horned Frogs, but it’ll have to do so through the air. TCU closed the year with the nation’s No. 13 run defense, allowing just 117 yards per game on the ground, but it also posted the nation’s No. 88 pass defense, allowing more than 240 yards per game through the air.
On paper this would seem to benefit the Rebels. They finished the regular season with the 30th-best passing offense in the nation but just the 61st-best rushing attack. Against teams from power conferences that disparity was even wider.
Ole Miss loves to move the ball through the air, and those are the offenses against which TCU has been the most vulnerable. So it would stand to reason, on paper at least, that the Rebels offense has an advantage in this game.
But that paper would likely also tell you that Ole Miss will once again be without top wideout Laquon Treadwell in this game, and that quarterback Bo Wallace and All-SEC left tackle Laremy Tunsil both battled injuries to close the regular season.
The Rebels passing game won’t be operating at full strength, throwing a wrench into the Ole Miss game plan. But judging by how poorly the Rebels ran the ball time and time again in 2014, their best chance at success on offense remains through the air.
A month away from the field should allow Wallace to heal from the sprained ankle he suffered late in the season, and the same can be said for Tunsil and the shoulder injury he’s battled in 2014. But improved protection and a healthy quarterback won’t provide Ole Miss the playmaking pass-catcher it lacks without Treadwell.
In its final two SEC games without Treadwell, Ole Miss combined to complete just 32 passes, including just one touchdown through the air. That won’t get it done against a defense unforgiving against the run.
Ole Miss will simply have to find new ways to stretch the field and give Bo Wallace options. This begins and ends with the Rebels other wideouts — Cody Core, Vince Sanders, Quincy Adeboyejo and versatile tight end Evan Engram.
Sanders and Engram both joined Treadwell as the only Rebels to amass at least 600 yards through the air this season (although Treadwell did so in three fewer games). Core added 530 yards and Adeboyejo added 303.
Core is the long-strider who can stretch the field and win jump balls against athletic defensive backs, while Sanders is the quick, precise route runner with ability to pick up yards after the catch. The Rebels will need huge showings from both players to keep the Horned Frogs honest.
If Core can’t gain a step on his defender on a majority of plays, forcing safety help to his side of the field, it will be easy to stifle Sanders on the other side. Likewise, if Sanders can’t consistently make big catches on modest routes to keep Ole Miss ahead of the chains, it will be tough for the Rebels to gain traction on offense.
Engram is the wild-card of the group, using his large frame to open up the passing game across the middle of the field and down the seams. He’s a matchup nightmare for most defenses, possessing the size of a tight end and the athleticism of a wideout, and if Wallace can get him going across the middle it will put the entire TCU defense in conflict.
The Rebels might not have their No. 1 guy, but if its collection of above-average receivers all come to play on the same day, they can make up for the loss.
But even one weak link among the group could undo the entire Ole Miss passing game. And if Ole Miss can’t win through the air, it’ll be tough to win at all.