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

By Daniel Skipper

OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Bret Bielema of the Arkansas Razorbacks calls a time out near the end of the game during a game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Hemingway Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 38-37. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Bret Bielema of the Arkansas Razorbacks calls a time out near the end of the game during a game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Hemingway Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 38-37. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Offensive Grades

Ole Miss Rebels Football
Ole Miss Rebels Football /

Ole Miss Rebels Football

This is a slippery slope when it comes to grades this week. There were really bright spots for the offense against Arkansas, however there were noticeable issues once again for coach Phil Longo and his offensive game plan and half-time adjustments.

Of course, turnovers are a part of football and they killed Ole Miss offensive momentum against the Hogs. You can’t have turnovers and compete with any team.

However, there were other issues which we’ll address when we hand out the coaching grades later in this article. For now lets focus on the different grades for each aspect of the offense. Of course, good news first.

Quarterback

We will keep this short and sweet. Jordan Ta’amu stepped up in the absence of Shea Patterson and played as well as could be expected.

Ta-amu was 20 of 30 for 368 yards passing. According to OleMissSports.com, this is the most passing yards for a Rebels quarterback in a first career start. Did Ta’amu make mistakes? Of course, it was his first career start. However he didn’t make many. Ta’amu had 1 INT.

Ta’amu also 91 yards rushing on 9 carries. Two of those carries went for TDs. One was a long and very fast 49 yard score. In total Ta’amu alone had 459 yards of total offense which is very impressive.

Quarterback Grade, A-

Wide Receivers

Ole Miss receivers stepped up their game from the LSU game and played well considering there were no receiving TDs. This however is not on the receivers. There were obvious improvements in their efforts against the Hogs. Nine different receivers were targeted on the afternoon with 20 receptions for 368 yards.

DK Metcalf led all receivers with 4 catches for 107 yards receiving. Van Jefferson also had 4 receptions for 55 yards. Tight-end Dawson Knox had 3 catches for 24 receiving yards while DaMarkus Lodge had 2 catches for 55 receiving yards. AJ Brown was limited to only 2 catches in the game. Brown had 48 receiving yards on those 2 receptions.

Wide Receivers Grade, A-

Runningbacks

So far this season OHT has been preaching about the lack of rushing offense with this team. As much as I personally love the Ole Miss passing attack there is a thing called balance and it lies within the rushing game. Of course, when you have a hot back with a chip on his shoulder you can expect him to put up good numbers.

So far, Jordan Wilkins has been hot. Jordan has also been very consistent and ranks well statistically for the limited touches he’s had. 16 touches in the OM backfield may seem like a big number for Wilkins but when you factor in the one reception out of the backfield, then there is an obvious deficiency.

It’s a widely held opinion among Rebel faithful Jordan Wilkins should be getting 20+ touches a game. Wilkins has the power to be a very physical runner and he also has breakaway potential. On Saturday Wilkins had 119 yards rushing on 16 carries with one of those being a long TD of 64 yards.

Besides the 9 carries for 91 yards Jordan Ta’amu had in the game, the only other touches on the ground for Ole Miss was the 3 carries Eric Swinney had for 6 yards. Sorry, but this is not a rushing attack. Until Wilkins gets 20+ touches in and out of backfield and another back makes legit numbers we can expect this grade to be low. Wilkins and his game has carried this grade for how many weeks now? Several. Once again, Wilkins saves.

Running-back Grade, B

Overall Offense

When you look at this very talented Ole Miss Rebels offense you have to recognize the potential this group has. This is an offensive unit which could still see games with massive numbers. The deficiency in this unit has nothing to do with the talent of the players. It’s all about numbers. That comes down to coaching.

There were 59 plays in total and there was balance. There were 30 passing plays and 29 rushing plays. That is a number all coaching staffs want to see. Maybe sometimes you should make obvious adjustments. For example, there was a long completion for a first down which put us in the red-zone. Then there were three straight rushing plays which led to a FG.

Ole Miss owned the middle of the field all day. However, they faltered within the red-zone. I can’t really put my finger on the problem but this week we chalk it up to a lack of confidence of the offensive coordinator. There were times when he should have had more faith in the passing game within the red-zone. The Hogs were back up and Ole Miss offense took their foot off the gas. For that they get a sub-par overall grade.

Total Offensive Grade, B+

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