Lane Kiffin could only do so much with only four starters returning from the last season. The Ole Miss Rebels' scoring defense was No. 1 in the SEC last season, No. 2 nationally with just 14.4 points allowed.
This season is a far cry from that, and its lowest, almost nightmarish point came in Week 3 against Arkansas. The offense gets all the credit for winning that one. Fortunately, it has been an upward curve for the Rebels' defense since.
Coach Lane Kiffin addressed the unsaid expectations of improving his defense, given their previous season's rankings, and how DC Golding has been managing them.
“It is. We’re still a long way off from last year," Kiffin said in his weekly teleconference.
"That was a really record-setting run defense. One of the best run, average per carry, in the last 15 years of college football. But we are improving and getting some DBs healthier and back. We had a really bad Arkansas game, and since then, we’ve played much better."
The Rebels' defense has indeed come a long way from allowing a whooping 35 points against the Razorbacks to just 10 against Tulane in Week 4, and 19 against LSU.
More than numbers, the Rebels' defense held off Brian Kelly's offense at just 254 yards by not allowing them to establish a rhythm. It was an essential part of Ole Miss's Magnolia Bowl win recipe.
"Pete Golding has done a wonderful job. We’ve come a long way from where we were defensively before he got here," Kiffin had said in last week's teleconference.
"We lost a lot of NFL players and really good players. So, we’ve been up-and-down on defense this year, and we’ve got to keep improving because we’re going to have some really challenging games," he added.
Ole Miss defense will play a key role in upcoming weeks
Speaking of challenging games, Ole Miss would need its defense the most next week against Georgia, and against Oklahoma in the week following that.
Up until now, the Rebels have been the odds-on favorite in most games, if not all. But against Georgia, they're the underdogs. In other words, the most-feared team to break Ole Miss's undefeated record.
Gunner Stockton is just as Heisman-hyped as Trinidad Chambliss, sometimes even more, so it will be a fair fight in that division, affecting both their Heisman chances.
According to ESPN rankings, the Rebels' offense ranks way higher than Georgia at No. 7, but their defense ranks way, way lower than the Bulldogs at No. 53.
Their game against Washington State this Saturday should give a good idea of how well Golding has worked on his defense during their first bye week.