Ole Miss Football: Grading Out The Ole Miss/LSU Game

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OXFORD, MS – OCTOBER 21: Darrel William /

Defensive Grades

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You already know OHT tries to be positive when we grade out these games. However there really isn’t much to be positive about in a 40-24 loss. Of course, the Rebels defense came out fired up and played well early in the game and held LSU to a 13-6 lead at the half. In the second half the wheels fell off. Let’s look at the defensive grades.

Defensive Line

The defensive line is the anchor of the defense. When they bend the defense bends when they break this defense breaks. You can’t look past this D line and see very much to be optimistic about. However, the D line played well in the first half against LSU.

Breeland Speaks stepped up in the LSU game and finished with 13 total tackles. Speaks also had a TFL to go with his 2 sacks. Marquis Haynes finished the day with 4 total Tackles and 1 TFL and 1 sack.

Of course, the sad part is having to grade the D line for the entirety of the game and not just the first half.

Defensive Line Grade, C+

Linebackers

This is a major area of concern for this defense. Poor linebacker play has killed us thru the four losses we have. The one bright spot at linebacker is DeMarquis Gates who continues to play at a high level. Gates finished the evening with 10 total tackles and 1 TFL. It’s time for Gates to step up as the leader of this defense and take control if they expect to get better. Once again missed tackles and linebackers out of position have plagued this defense.

Linebackers Grade, C+

Secondary

Once again this is a trouble spot for the Rebels defense with missed tackles and blown coverage. There really isn’t much at all to brag about with this secondary. To have this much talent and look this bad we can only blame the coaching staff. Of course, we’ll get to the coaching grades soon enough and it won’t be pretty.

The Rebels secondary continues to give up big plays. Any time you give up a 60 yard TD there are obvious issues. Until the staff allows them play coverage instinctively the long play bleeding will continue to plague this defense.

Secondary Grade, C-

As I stated earlier the defense played well in the first half and kept the LSU Tigers within striking distance at the half. However, the game is four quarters and not just two. The brunt of the problem lies within the staff not making proper half-time adjustments to counter the adjustments of the LSU staff. We still have to grade the entire defense based on the outcome of the entire game. Like the offensive side of the ball these marks fall on the coaching staff for the most part. The one bright spot on defense was forcing FG tries on four LSU possessions.

Overall Defensive Grade, C

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