Ole Miss Football: Grading Out the Alabama Game

The Offense

Ole Miss Rebels Football

Yes, please tell me where our stats went. It’s apparent they disappeared at halftime of the Cal game and failed to resurface Saturday night against the Tide. Of course, when will we see them again is my next question? Hopefully soon.

One thing I want to go ahead and say right now. This is in no way intended to be critical of any particular player. We are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. These are great players. However, they subject to something which they can’t control and that’s coaching. Please keep that in mind as these grades are handed out.

Of course, there’s no need in beating around the bush about it. The final stats line in this game was ugly in almost every category. The Ole Miss offense only produced a meager 253 total yards in the game. Now, it was against the No.1 team in the nation. However, these are not the kinds of stats we are used to seeing.

Wasting Shea

We have the top quarterback in the SEC and still passing yardage leader in Shea Patterson. Shea Patterson and the receiving corp accounted for only 165 yards. Shea was 14 of 29 with 2 INTs. Much of the night Shea was under duress as the offensive line simply couldn’t stop the Bama D line. Shea was sacked 5 times for -30 yards in the game. We can only expect Shea to be able to do just so much with his feet. He has to have better protection upfront.

Coach Phil Longo commented after the game that there were positives take away from the game and they tried to establish a rushing attack. 88 net yards is not an attack. Jordan Wilkins had a pretty good night and actually broke the 100 mark with 102 yards on just 12 carries, an 8.4 YPC average. Good job Jordan!

I’d really like to think there were a lot of moving parts to Longo’s simplified offense. However, because of the low stats and because of coaching the Ole Miss offense grade is ugly. Trust me, you’ll understand better when we get to the coaches and their grades.

Offensive Grade, D