Ole Miss football was back in action Saturday as the Rebels hosted the South Carolina Gamecocks in a 48-44 loss. Here are the first thoughts.
Coming off a bye week and an embarrassing loss to the Auburn Tigers Ole Miss football was back in action Saturday against South Carolina in a cross-divisional SEC matchup. It was not the ideal outcome for coach Matt Luke and the Rebels who were looking to get their sixth win against the Gamecocks. Instead the Rebels fell to South Carolina in a 48-44 loss and dropped to 5-4 on the season.
South Carolina struck first with an opening kickoff return for a TD and basically dominated the game from that point. The Rebels did have a great offensive day but there was little which the Ole Miss defense could do to keep Jake Bentley and the Gamecocks off the field or out of the end-zone when it mattered most. Defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff and the Rebels defense allowed 48 points and over 500 yards of Gamecock offense on the day.
Obvious Problems
Ole Miss Rebels
Unless you were watching another SEC team with a failing defense then you saw what we all saw yesterday against South Carolina. There are serious issues with the Rebels on the defensive side of the ball and they appear to not really be getting any better. At the 9 game mark of the season we should have seen the improvements from the defense and while the Rebels have been decimated on defense we have failed to see consistency.
Keep in mind these are the first thoughts from Saturday and a loss is never an easy way to face a game from a player, coach or fan standpoint. There has to be some point where we look at the team and ask what the problem is and actually do something about it. When your offense can put up 44 points and 616 yards of total offense then you should be able to come away with a win and the Rebels couldn’t.
Not All Was Bad
While no loss is a good loss you can’t let the loss minimize what some of the Rebels did against the Gamecocks on Saturday. You really couldn’t ask coach Phil Longo and the Rebels offense to do much more than they did. 616 yards in a SEC game against a Muschamp defense is a very strong effort and a number of Rebels made an impact. Naturally , OHT will be doing a South Carolina review and will look at the individual numbers. For now we know there were a couple of Rebels who made record-breaking efforts on Saturday.
Observations
It’s very easy to sit and be critical as a Sunday morning quarterback and we have to keep in mind we all have our own opinion. Saturday we watched as a Ole Miss offense did all we could really expect against one of the better defenses in the SEC. From the opening kickoff we watched as the Gamecocks really controlled the Ole Miss defense and at will moved the ball. When it comes to the play-calling in the game from the Rebels staff there was obviously a better game plan from coach Phil Longo.
While we watched the Rebels offense make tremendous strides over the past two weeks there was nothing better about the Ole Miss defense. The Rebels have the No.1 QB and No.1 WR in the SEC and we can’t scrape together enough defense to hold the Gamecocks to less than 44 points? Yes, there are issues which coach Matt Luke is facing which could be easily overcome.
When Luke finally decides to throw out the dead weight in the plane depends on him and how much he wants 6+ wins in 2018. I hate to see a terrible defense keep it from happening and this defense is really bad. A great offense is a terrible thing to waste.
Please be sure to check back here for the OHT South Carolina review where we will have all the stars and stats from Saturday. Please also be sure to visit and like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for the latest Rebels news and updates. Hotty Toddy!