Ole Miss football began the season with a very tough and ugly loss to Memphis in the season opener but bounced back by roasting the Hogs!
Okay, now I’m feeling much better. I was really worried about this game. Like, REALLY worried. Losing to Memphis is bad enough, but backing that up with a loss to the consensus preseason pick for the worst team in the SEC West would have been catastrophic to my psyche. It’s bad enough the hell I catch from my friends about our ridiculous-looking mascot. I don’t need more fuel for the fire.
While I realize we are still in rebuilding mode and a loss against Arkansas wouldn’t have meant much in the grand scheme of things, it still feels good. For one, it tells us that we’re doing something right. The Hogs have been in the same rebuilding mode we’ve been in for the last two years, except they haven’t had to deal with the sting of NCAA sanctions like we have. Beating them for the second year in a row, with an offense that was non-existent the week prior shows that we are getting better. Baby steps, but definitely better.
Offense
Ole Miss Rebels Football
I’m not sure who those guys were that showed up to the Liberty Bowl a couple weeks ago, but it couldn’t have been the same bunch that took the field on Saturday night. These players were aggressive and active. They moved with intent, attacking the defense when they could. Couldn’t have been the same bunch. Just couldn’t have.
Most noticeable among all these new players was the offensive line. I don’t know what changes were made from the first week or what they practiced like last week but what I do know is that these guys went back to the drawing board, worked out some kinks and just got better. There was still some confusion and a few missed assignments, but not much that a fan could see and not be impressed with, especially when considering the previous week.
Let me tell you something else about this offense, there is no shortage of playmakers. I don’t give a damn what anyone voting for the preseason all-SEC teams says, Scottie Phillips is as good a running back as anyone in this league, period. Snoop Connor seems poised to follow in Phillips’ footsteps and did you see Ealy catch that little dump pass from Corrall? You know, the one where he saw the ball coming behind him and turned completely around to catch it on the other side and then turn back upfield for a positive play? That, my friends, is what a five-star athlete does. Elijah Moore clearly established himself as the go-to receiver of this year’s group of NWO’s. Oh, and lest I forget about Octavious Cooley. That is a grown-ass man and he came to play. (Dear sweet baby Jesus up in Heaven, please make those coaches throw that ball to Mr. Cooley more. Amen.)
With some time to throw the ball this week, Corral was a completely different player. He managed much better than the previous week and his stat line speaks for itself. There were a couple of times where the freshman-ness came out, but this kid is getting better too. I was particularly impressed with the touch he is able to put on some of his throws. Unlike another highly-touted quarterback who used to play here, Corral doesn’t just throw it hard. He has a penchant for being able to put the ball in a place where his receiver can catch it in stride and continue the play. As the offensive line gets better, I think we’ll see more and more of this.
Defense
Coming into the year, I was worried that this bunch would be improved considerably and still not be very good. That’s how bad they were last year (and Memphis could have been an anomaly). Throw in a three-minute breath holding session after watching Momo Sanogo go down with a broken ankle and the hope started to fade away. Alas, Coach McIntyre has done something with these kids that has them playing above their heads. I don’t know what it is, but it’s working. It certainly helped in this game that Arkansas always seemed to be shooting themselves in the foot with their play-calling (Why in the world would you risk those trick plays when you’re moving the ball?), but the defense did cash in on big plays when they could.
The defense will surely give up more yards and scores as the season goes along and we start playing better teams, but I’m really impressed with this group so far. Kudos to Coach Matt Luke for hiring this new defensive coordinator. He’s done an admirable job to date. We still have some tackling issues to deal with and it seemed that a couple of spread formations caused some confusion, but overall, there’s not much to complain about.
Coaching
These coaches clearly went right back to work helping these kids get better. The single-week turnaround on offense is probably more indicative of a lack of experience than it is coaching, but the coaches buckled down and handled their business. There seems to be a cognitive plan in place for what they’re doing and the coaches are sticking to that plan. There will come a time when the plan needs to change some but, for now, that hasn’t been an issue. Let’s hope this continues.
It sure wouldn’t hurt my feelings to see the offense slow down a little bit. The defensive guys are thin like it is and don’t need to play any more snaps than they have to, especially with some better teams coming up on the schedule. I totally get why you’d want to run up to the line and run another play when you’ve got a defense reeling and maybe have found a weakness that they aren’t able to fix on the fly. Still, our offense is snapping the ball with 20+ seconds left on the play clock even when they don’t have a clear advantage. Arkansas may not have been able to do much with those extra snaps on offense, but I can assure you that Alabama and LSU will.
A Second Start to the Season
I have to remind myself that we were playing Arkansas and, well, they’re just not very good. So I will have to temper my expectations going forward. We are still a young team, we are still developing our talent and we’ve got much better teams to play later in the season. This one was a must-win, though, and they won it. Hopefully, they can use this game to build on through the rest of the season. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re all feeling much better than we were a week ago.