Ole Miss Football: Despite Delays Rebels Beat Flashes, First Thoughts

Week-four of the 2018 Ole Miss football season saw the Rebels hosting the Kent State Golden Flashes in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

While it wasn’t quite the finish most Ole Miss football fans had hoped for the Rebels managed to pick up a 38-17 win over Kent State. It may sound cliché but the win was not a pretty one by any means. However, it was a win and they finally made it look respectable. Despite a strong first drive the Rebels offense seemed to stall for much of the first half.

The Rebels defense did look much better and accounted for 7 sacks in the first half and made some big stops. With the Rebels offense unable to put more points on the board the defense kept the Flashes out of the end-one and the Rebels took the 7-7 tie with Kent State into the locker-room at the half.

The second half looked much better for the Ole Miss offense despite a longer halftime than usual.  Due to inclement weather in the area there was a 45 minute delay of the second half kickoff but the Rebels offense looked much better with Ta’amu looking more comfortable. The defense gave up 10 points in the second half but continued to play hard for the duration of the game.

What We Saw

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What we saw was a Ole Miss team which once again started strong and then failed to convert in the red-zone. While we saw senior Jordan Ta’amu pass for 400+ yards he looked uncomfortable early and also played much of the game with a sprained throwing shoulder. It probably had a fair impact on his accuracy on his deep pass. Still Ta’amu played the entire game and played relatively well.

Of course, as expected we saw a major focus on the run game in which JUCO transfer running-back Scottie Phillips had another 100+ yard rushing game. We also saw the explosiveness of freshman running-back Tylan Knight and watched freshman RB Isaiah Woullard get a score. And of course we saw the huge threat known as the NWO with big plays being made by a number of Rebels receivers and we saw more of freshman Elijah Moore.

Defense Showed Up

Hats off to the Rebels defense for playing much better Saturday against Kent State. While there are still issues on the defensive side of the ball we watched them bend but not break. They played with an energy which was non-existent in the Bama game. There were some missed tackles, missed assignments and blown coverages but their tenacity made up for the mistakes and the Rebels defense made some big plays.

The biggest difference we saw from the Rebels defense was in the amount of pressure the front was able to get on the QB and racked up 7 sacks because of their effort. Yes there is still work to do in the coming weeks but this game could have been the hump the Rebels needed to get over to be effective. They certainly made a strong step forward today.

Observations

It was once again a tough first half to watch until the Ole Miss offense began to click. The bright spot is that they finally turned on the jets and racked up 650+ yards of total offense. Naturally, this game should have been a blowout win and would have been if the Ole Miss offense would have begun the way they finished the game.

The Rebels defense made a statement against the Golden Flashes. Wesley McGriff was able to get more from the defense Saturday and they made up for the slack in the Rebels offense in the first half. This was not the defense we’ve seen in the last two games and considering being dogged for the past week stepped up big time.

Please be sure to be watching for our post-game review of the Ole Miss Rebels and Kent State Golden Flashes which will have more detailed stats from the Saturday match-up. Also be sure to visit and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Congratulation to coach Matt Luke and the Rebels on the win. Hotty Toddy!