Ole Miss Football: Rebels Fall Short Against Aggies 31-24
Ole Miss football faced the Texas A&M Aggies at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford Saturday night and fell short in the game. Now they have one game left in this dismal season.
It’s been a rough season for Ole Miss football. The Rebels fell to the Texas A&M Aggies 31-24 Saturday night and saw their record fall to 5-6 thus far in the 2017 season. Of course, Ole Miss has the chance to finish the season at 6-6 but it will be a tough test in Starkville.
Before we look ahead to State College lets take a look at Saturday nights debacle against the Texas A&M Aggies. Coming into Saturday nights game the Rebels had won three straight over the Aggies. The Aggies last win over the Rebels was in 2013 when Johnny Football was playing.
Now they have a new quarterback in Nick Starkel and he was successful in securing the road win for the Aggies. Later this week OHT will be handing out grades and it won’t be pretty. For now, let’s look at the game by the numbers.
By The Numbers
Ole Miss Rebels Football
The biggest number is always the final score. Of course a 31-24 loss seems like a good game. However, that’s not always the case. It wasn’t in the case of Saturday night.
When we look at the numbers we see a fairly even game in most respects. Both teams had 391 yards of total offense. Both teams were productive on the offensive side of the ball in the first half.
Ole Miss found some success running the ball in the first half behind Jordan Wilkins. Wilkins finished the night with 149 yards rushing on 19 carries and 1 TD.
Jordan Ta’amu had 14 carries for 49 yards but struggled in the passing game. Ta’amu was 19-34 for 189 yards and 2 TDs. Of course, all of the Rebels scoring was in the first half.
A Tale Of Two Halves
Of course, Ole Miss has been plagued by The Tale of Two Halves all season. The Texas A&M staff made specific halftime adjustments. The Ole Miss offensive staff did not. The Ole Miss offense struggled against an aggressive Chavis/Aggie defense in the final two quarters. Coach Phil Longo had no answer.
No points in the second half by the Rebels and needless dumb penalties cost Ole Miss in the final two quarters. Yes, the glaring number was the penalties which the Rebels collected. 13 penalties for 102 yards is totally unacceptable.
Defense Shows Up
If you had told me we would hold the Texas A&M offense to 24 points in this game I would have believed the Rebels would get the win. This defense has bent some this season but have shown improvement as the season has progressed.
Walk-on senior middle linebacker Tayler Polk led the defense with 12 total tackles. Polk led in tackles for the second straight week. Senior DeMarquis Gates finished the night with 11 total tackles himself. Myles Hartsfield collected an INT in the game.
The Rebels will need the defense step up even further Thanksgiving night if they expect to have a chance at finishing the season at 6-6. Ole Miss travels to Starkville to take on Miss State in the annual Egg Bowl. Kickoff is set for 6:30pm CT and will be televised on ESPN.