Rapid reaction: Ole Miss can't handle Memphis
What it means: Not only was this bad for Ole Miss, but potentially it is bad for the conference. Suppose Ole Miss goes on to run the table in the conference? Then, what if the Rebels win the SEC title game in Atlanta? Would the playoff committee put a two-loss Ole Miss in the final four with a loss to Memphis on its resume?
What I liked: The passing game. By the way, where did it go during the game? Chad Kelly hit his first seven passes and even tied a school record with his fifth 300-yard game. Not bad considering he has only played seven games and sat out the second half in a couple. If Ole Miss had stayed with the plan to fill the air with footballs, it may have been a different outcome.
What I didn’t like: The second quarter and penalties. Ole Miss allowed Memphis to score 24-unanswered points to seize momentum. In the second, the Tigers were allowed to start three drives in Rebels territory. And again, the Ole Miss defense has allowed too many third-down conversions, and many of them are third-and-longs. It did not help Robert Nkemdiche left the game with a concussion while playing offense. The Rebels committed 8 penalties for 90 yards in the game.
Who’s the man?: Laquon Treadwell. The junior grabbed 13 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown. He was clearly Chad Kelly’s go-to man. But Ole Miss went away from the passing game and it suffered for it.
Key play: In the second quarter, Markell Pack allowed a Kelly pass to go through his hands and into Dion Witty’s hands for the Memphis interception with 3:40 left in the half. Less than a minute later, the Tigers were in the end zone to take their first lead of the game. Memphis would ride that momentum to the win.
Who’s next?: Ole Miss returns to Oxford to take on Texas A&M in a SEC West battle.
Thanks Coach Freeze for another bag up coaching job! 2014: Arkansas, Peach Bowl,,,, 2015: Florida, Memphis….. Will somebody get us a real coach! I have enough!
I apologize for every response I’ve made to you. Freeze is sh*t and that defense is a joke.
Agreed!
Apology accepted! You have no idea how badly I wanted to be wrong about this game, but something is just not right!
Kitchen.
Timeout
It kind of disturbs me how obsessed you are with me..please stop replying to all my posts.
Please start contributing to SDS.
Shut up. You make all of us look terrible. If you feel that way, go become a Bama fan or somewhere else. Johnny Vaught, the man we dedicated a statue to in front of our stadium, lost games and is still considered a great coach. Do you realize where we were 3 years ago? We couldn’t even beat a bad Kentucky team in 2011. If you are ashamed to be an Ole Miss fan, than find another team. But show a little class when we lose instead of throwing a temper tantrum on the internet like a baby.
Freeze is very much a “real coach” and your crap about “the fans deserve better” is misguided. We got back to back wins against Bama, are 5-2, and went 9-4 last season just 2 years since being winless in the SEC. He hasn’t let us down in any way. Your own personal meltdown is a result of your own high, unrealistic expectations.
There are plenty of SEC teams would wouldn’t mind having Freeze as their coach. So how about you be a little grateful for the progress we’ve made, quit acting like such a baby and terrible sport, congratulate a Memphis fan on their easily deserved win, and quit throwing a fit?
Freeze might can coach but his play-calling has been iffy at best. I’m not saying he needs to be fired but he needs to fire himself as OC. Nkemdiche had no business being in on offense, as we can ill-afford to have ANOTHER defensive playmaker on the sidelines. And that 4th down call on our side of the field towards the end of the first half? Ridiculous considering the fact that our defense can’t stop any halfway decent team.
You’re right. When you’re trying to control every facet of your game, you tend to make major mistakes or play too conservatively. Which is exactly why he needs an OC to balance out that stuff for him. But the “Fire Freeze” crap is way too premature, ill-conceived, and shows some really bad sportsmanship after a loss. The problem isn’t him. It’s the lack of coaching in other areas.
Salty AF, man
What is with everyone throwing us under the bus while on a different topic?! Why is everyone so salty!?
I genuinely wasn’t digging at Bama fans. I just picked the first team I thought of that is mildly successful right now. Consider it a compliment.
I can’t agree more, the first two years he coached and the players played with a chip on their shoulder, with something to prove. Now it seems they put too much into their own hype. The games we have lost over the past two seasons our staff has been outcoached and the players show no enthusiasm.
You’re insane or delusional. Who are you supposing we replace Coach Freeze with? I think he is a top 15 coach in the nation. The defense and o-line are decimated with injuries, which is why we can’t stop anyone and can’t run the ball. If you have had enough you need to find another team to root for. I am ashamed for you honestly. Please stop making all Ole Miss fans look like huge cry babies. You must not remember going 2-10 the year before Freeze..
Bang up… Oops
I know you’re disappointed, but don’t run Mr Freeze off just yet. Unless you want to swap us for Bert. In fact, we’ll give you Bert, Enos and a bologna sammich for Hugh.
Some of these “Rebels” who don’t understand how good we have just won’t ever learn. Please don’t send Bert to Oxford. We will take the sammich, however, for our O-line coach.
He is not a play calling coach. He needs to hire a real tempo offensive coordinator and fire Matt Luke. Recruiting alone won’t get the job done.
Looks to me like he needs to get rid of his DC too! We had the #1 D in the country last year. What happened? This isn’t Briarcrest, Lambuth, or Arkansas Stare! This is the SEC and the fans deserve better!
Wommack needs to bench Webster. Teams have thrown at will against him. Conner could defend better with one good knee.
A very reasonable and level-headed observation, unlike the one above you. I’ve hated how he plays the receiver on nearly every pass and doesn’t even pay attention to the ball. That 3rd quarter TD he gave up today was totally avoidable. And he’s supposedly “better” than Tee was at DB? Horsecrap.
It’s called graduation, NFL draft, and losing a great position coach. You don’t deserve anything with the way you’re acting. Quit being a spoiled loser.
I don’t know, I heard pretty bad things about the Arkansas Stare…
First, Matt Luke has talent at the O-line, so that excuse of “we don’t have the talent yet” is gone. It’s become obvious that he just isn’t the right OL coach for the job. Florida had guys with way less experience that weren’t as highly recruited as our guys, and they still did much more than we could at OL. Luke needs to go.
Second, Corey Batoon isn’t fitting in. After Tom Allen left, he took over safeties and special teams. We can’t return a punt or kickoff if our life depended on it, and our safeties (and DBs) keep playing this really soft zone and give the receivers a 5-6 yard cushion to catch the ball and run with. He was an office guy before this season, and I just don’t think he should have gotten to take over an SEC position group as his first gig.
Third, we need an OC. Plain and simple. Most championship caliber teams in the country have an OC. Why in the hell Hugh Freeze thinks he’s any different I’ll never understand.
With those things being said, they will never happen. Freeze has shown us that he is the “good guy”. He won’t fire a coach or hire someone he doesn’t know. He likes to reward loyalty and promote from within. So, as has been the case for several years, he will continue to blame the problems elsewhere and avoid making coaching changes. We will never win a championship under CHF. It just won’t happen. That doesn’t mean we can’t have some good 7-10 win seasons, but championships will never come.
I agree with everything you said.
It doesn’t look like our secondary is gonna improve anytime soon. Conner is now likely out for the season, and Hilton got injured today. Not sure of the severity. Idk if it’s just bad luck, poor strength and conditioning, poor techniques, or a combination of all three. I can’t remember a season in which we’ve had so many injuries through 7 games.
If Matt Luke isn’t gone following the season, prepare for another year of a one-dimensional offense. I still think Freeze needs to hire an OC, but even his play-calling will be limited, and second-guessed, if we can’t run the damn ball.
Every year we have a staggering number of key starters out injured by game 7 or 8. We get decimated every year for one reason or another.
Seems like a lot of the problem is strength and conditioning.
Then why are we playing in the SEC? Why are we planning to expand our stadium if all we can hope for is to stay near the bottom or at best in the middle of the West? What’s the point? Hugh Freeze makes as much as Les Miles so don’t give me that excuse! The difference is LSU gets results!
Freeze may make as much Miles (if that’s even the case), but Ole Miss is not LSU. We’ve had one top-10 recruiting class in school history. LSU’s classes are rarely OUTSIDE the top-10. Big difference in talent and depth year in and year out. Just look at how many people they send to the draft every year.
The difference is that LSU has won SEC and national championships already, Les Miles is a better coach, LSU has a great dedicated OC, LSU recruits in the top 10 every year (not just sometimes), and LSU has boatloads more money. The point isn’t the Miles is paid more which makes him a better coach. The point is that we can’t AFFORD to pay a coach like Miles or Saban or anyone else to leave a successful program to come here. We don’t have nearly the same prestige or finances to make a competitive push for a better coach. I don’t know who you’d replace Freeze with that’s much better for the amount of money we could spend who would also like coaching at our school and be willing to show up. You act like we could just throw money at Nick Saban and he’d show up. Or like there’s a magical coach in the middle of nowhere that we haven’t noticed who is flawless and perfect. UNREALISTIC. You sound like a freshman who got disillusioned by the success we had last year and is now acting spoiled because you’re too young to remember the sea of pity we went through just 4 seasons ago. Get some perspective.
Tell me this, you guys who are jumping on my case, how many years is reasonable to expect to be really competitive in the West? We are in year 4 with Freeze and his top 5 recruiting class. We still have A&M, LSU, Arkansas, and MSU left to play, not to mention Auburn. UT fans are ready to throw Butch Jones under the bus after 3 seasons. I guarantee you I’m not the only one frustrated!
There’s nothing unreasonable about expecting to be competitive after some good recruiting classes IF all the other pieces were in place. We have a lot of issues that are not fixed by recruiting classes, though. And your rant about firing a head coach and a DC show that you have very little thought in your opinions and instead are just being emotional and reactive. Firing Freeze would set us back even further. This loss also does not take us out of SEC West competition. The following weeks will decide that. Instead of blaming it all on the coach that resurrected our program from a flaming garbage bin, calm down and realize that we lost to a good team because of other factors not just related to Freeze and the DC. The problem with your comparison to Tennessee is that we were arguably in a worse position when Freeze took over than UT was when Jones came in. Also, Freeze has had increasingly better years with bowl trips every year he’s been here where as UT just reached a bowl game in year 2 under Jones and is not really showing improvement.
Nebraska fired Bo Pelini after he won 9+ games a year his whole time there (7 seasons) because they wanted to “be more competitive”, and look where they are now (2-4).
I never liked Pelini, but he was a good coach. I didn’t agree with firing him. You just said that we’d never win an NC with Freeze, so what should our goal be? Why would you hire a coach and expect less? Two losses to teams that are good, but probably not as good as LSU, A&M or Bama is reason for concern.
Because we are not a powerhouse program. We don’t have the social nor financial resources to compete on that level. It just won’t happen. It’s great to have high goals, but if you want to fire Freeze and Dave Wommack, that doesn’t help your cause any. Who would you hire instead? For the prestige level Ole Miss holds and the financial resources we have, Freeze is about as good as it gets. You aren’t going to get a Nick Saban, Les Miles, or Jimbo Fisher here. It’s just not a job they’d take, nor could we afford them. There are smaller problems we can fix that would help us out tremendously, but firing Freeze isn’t one of them. Winning 7-10 games a year isn’t bad for a small Mississippi school in the middle of the SEC West. That’s right about where our expectations should be.
Y’all act like this loss was a HUGE shock and there was NO WAY the black bears should have lost. Realize this: this was a big rivalry game (as much as ole miss fans hate to admit being rivals to Memphis), you lost to that rival team in their stadium, and Memphis should’ve been ranked in the AP before this game anyway. Everyone is acting like this is such a devastating loss to an unranked nobody. You got beat by a better team who is overlooked by everyone. You came out, threw a couple punches early and they punched back. Memphis is much better than ole miss fans give them credit for. It might help if you didn’t think your season ends after the Bama game every year.
I saw this one coming. Memphis is very good and our team and fans thought it was an automatic win. Of course the excuses will be rampant. That’s the Ole Miss way and the very reason we will never be an elite team. As long as we win the bare minimum and play in a bowl in some broken-down stadium against some po-dunk team, our fans are satisfied. Not me! I am sick if hearing about where we were 4 years ago, blah blah blah… We got our butts kicked by a 1st year coach at Florida.
I think South Carolina just found their new coach…Overrated Ole Miss team.
Ole Miss makes Bama regret that loss a little more every week.
I bet! At least ya’ll know you can rally back. We’re not there yet and I’m starting to think we never will be. Our fans are too complacent with mediocrity as success. You guys look awesome today.