No. 9 Ole Miss suffered a blowout 52-28 to No. 8 Florida this past Saturday. In a game many Rebel fans are already trying to forget, some serious questions have emerged about this team. Ole Miss entered Saturday’s matchup after a marquee win over LSU 32-24 and was ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll, it’s highest regular-season ranking since 2015 (No. 3).
In an ironic twist, the Rebels traveled to Gainesville and suffered a 38-10 beat-down from the No. 25 Gators. The 2015 loss came two weeks after a statement win as well, a 43-37 upset over No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Many Ole Miss fans are feeling an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. The question now becomes whether Florida exposed something LSU did not, and if that something can be corrected.
The Rebels’ defensive performance is the immediate red flag. Florida running backs Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark combined for 41 carries, 268 yards and four total touchdowns, with Baugh scoring three of them. Poor tackling was the primary culprit.
All afternoon, Baugh and Clark continued to get downhill and out-leverage Ole Miss defenders. With no reliable way to stop the primary component of the Gators’ offense.
But that leaves the question, what did Florida expose that LSU didn’t? The answer is painfully simple; it didn’t expose anything new.
Ole Miss was able to create disruption against Louisville and LSU, but tackling has been a problem all season. And with the win over LSU taking the dominant focus, it’s easy to forget that the Rebels held a 24-7 halftime lead, and would score just eight points in the second half, while LSU ripped off 17 unanswered to tie the game at 24.
It stays simple; Florida’s offense is the run game; LSU’s is not. Buster Faulkner, Florida’s offensive coordinator, is well-established in coaching a run-heavy offense. At Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets averaged 197.8 yards a game across three seasons, which led the ACC and ranked 14th nationally. The Gators simply ran their normal offense, which is the exact defensive vulnerability for Ole Miss.
The run game being the main weakness for the Rebels comes down to tackling. The coaching staff has been addressing so far this season, but that work didn’t show at all on Saturday. But whether things finally start to stick after that kind of per remains to be seen.
A bye week at Vanderbilt and at home against Missouri offer the perfect demonstration and evaluation period before Ole Miss travels to Austin to take on No. 1 Texas. There is a way to recover and let this remain just one bad game, and there is also a way for this to be the thing that derails the season. Only time will determine which road the Rebels will travel.
Ole Miss is back in action against Vanderbilt on October 10th. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
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