Ole Miss Football: Rebels Get Beached By Tua And No.1 Crimson Tide

Week-three of the 2018 Ole Miss football season would see the Rebels hosting the No.1 Alabama Crimson Tide in a SEC home opener.

Saturday night Ole Miss football (2-1) opened SEC play against No.1 Alabama (3-0) in Oxford in front of a huge crowd. The Rebels entered the matchup coming off wins over Texas Tech and Southern Illinois and with one of the top offenses in the SEC were expected by many to give the Tide some trouble. However, that wouldn’t be the case for Matt Luke and the Rebels on Saturday night.

The Alabama Crimson Tide entered the Vaught with wins over Louisville and Arkansas State and the No.1 AP ranking. Of course, Nick Saban and Alabama were favored in the matchup with the Rebels and expected by many to win. Few fans however expected it to be a repeat of 2017 but with the exception of a TD instead of a FG it was precisely what Ole Miss football fans watched as the Tide hammered the Rebels 62-7.

The Rebels did create some momentary excitement when QB Jordan Ta’amu hooked up deep with DK Metcalf for a 73 yard TD strike on the first offensive play. However, it did little to slow the Tide and they tied the game on their first drive. The Rebels had no answer for the Tide offense and was dominated the rest of the game. Coach Wesley McGriff and the Rebels defense allowed 516 yards of Bama offense with 306 coming thru the air and 210 yard on the ground.

Individual Rebels Numbers

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The Rebels offense was stifled much of the game by the Bama defense and put up only 248 yards of total offense. Senior Jordan Ta’amu had a rough night completing only 7 of 22 attempts for 133 yards and 1 TD. Ta’amu also had 2 INTs. Junior DK Metcalf had just 2 receptions for 92 yards and 1 TD while junior All-American AJ Brown had 4 receptions for 34 yards. Senior DaMarkus Lodge had 1 reception for 7 yards.

The Rebels running game was also stifled by the Bama defense. JUCO transfer Scottie Phillips had 12 carries for 44 yards while freshman Isaiah Woullard had 7 carries for 29 yards. Freshman Tylan Knight had 8 carries for 20 yards and junior Armani Linton had 2 carries for 3 yards. Jordan Ta’amu also had 8 rushes for 29 yards.

Rebels Defense

Defensively the Rebels looked really bad but there were some bright spots. We saw some of the younger defensive players play hard and make some big hits. Freshmen linebackers Jacquez Jones and Kevontae’ Ruggs both looked good and played hard. Freshman defensive back Keidron Smith also looked good while senior CJ Moore got his first interception of the 2018 season.

Observations

No it wasn’t pretty and there are very few things we saw which make us believe the Rebels weren’t completely outmatched after the first 11 seconds of the game. While most Ole Miss football fans have not been able to stomach watching a replay of the game there is little there to look forward to at this point in the season.

Coach Matt Luke has a lot of work to do both on and off the field if this team expects to live up to its true potential this season and moving forward. It is truly a shame to see a team with this much talent on both sides of ball having to endure what lies ahead unless there are some major changes very soon. If not this could be a long and ugly season for this Ole Miss team.

Luckily the Rebels will be back in action this coming Saturday as they host Kent State in Oxford. Please be sure to check back here at Ole Hotty Toddy for the latest Rebels news and updates as the Rebels head into week-four of the 2018 Ole Miss football season. Better yet visit and like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter. Hotty Toddy!