Pete Golding doesn’t need a reminder that Saturday could tell him plenty about where his Ole Miss defense really stands. He’s about to get one anyway.
When No. 9 Ole Miss meets No.
13 Missouri at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, the Rebels will be staring at an offense that can stress them in more than one way. Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons returns to Oxford for the first time since transferring last January, along with wide receiver Cayden Lee and cornerback Chris Graves Jr.
And Simmons is hardly arriving empty-handed: he has thrown for 1,434 yards with 14 touchdowns and only one interception.
The matchup gets even trickier from there. Lee and Donovan Olugbode have combined for more than 1,000 receiving yards and have caught 11 of Simmons’ 14 touchdown passes.
On the ground, Jamal Roberts has piled up 828 rushing yards and eight scores. That kind of balance is exactly the sort of thing that has exposed Ole Miss at different points this season.
That’s been the central problem for Golding’s group. The Rebels have shown they can look dominant in stretches, but too often the corrections haven’t come fast enough once a game starts slipping. The clearest example came in the loss to Florida, when Ole Miss gave up more than 300 rushing yards and just under 200 passing yards, even though Florida quarterback Aaron Philo completed only eight passes past the line of scrimmage.
And the second half has been an issue all year in the Power 4 games Ole Miss has played. The Rebels have been outscored in every one of them, though that does include Vanderbilt putting up a late touchdown in the fourth quarter after Ole Miss had already backed off in a game it had clearly put away.
Ole Miss escaped Louisville and No. 22 LSU thanks largely to Trinidad Chambliss and the offense, but that formula only goes so far. Golding can’t expect the Rebels to win track meets every week, especially not in games like Florida, where the slow start buried them before they could recover.
Missouri’s own results give Ole Miss reason to be on alert. The Tigers scored 45 points and beat Florida 45-17 the very next week after the Gators hung 52 on the Rebels. Florida had already blown open the Ole Miss game with a 35-point second half, and afterward linebacker Keaton Thomas said, "Some guys took it, and other guys didn't," when asked about Golding calling the team out at halftime.
The way Missouri beat Florida should ring familiar to Ole Miss. The Tigers jumped ahead early and leaned on Roberts to control the game and extend the lead. If that same script starts unfolding in Oxford, Golding’s real job won’t just be about defensive calls - it’ll be about keeping the Rebels locked in so they don’t unravel the way they did in Gainesville.
The talent is there. That part has been obvious since preseason, and it finally showed up in full against Vanderbilt.
What Ole Miss still has to prove is that the defense can hold its edge when the game turns difficult. That’s the challenge sitting right in front of Pete Golding.
In Other News...
Missouri's Loss Exposed An Ole Miss Problem Tigers Couldn't Contain
Missouris defense found out the hard way just how many different ways Ole Miss can hurt an opponent. Even with injuries limiting Edwin Joseph and Kewan Lacy, the Rebels still got steady production from Joenel Aguero on defense, a big receiving night from Caleb Cunningham and enough from Lacy on the ground to keep the Tigers chasing for much of the afternoon. It was the kind of win that reminded everyone Ole Miss can survive bumps in the lineup and still dictate the terms of a game.
What stood out afterward, though, was how the Rebels still left room for more. Deuce Alexander had a quieter outing than usual, but he remains a key part of the offense, and that matters as Ole Miss keeps pushing into the heart of the season. If the Rebels can keep getting impact plays from different spots even when injuries show up, the bigger question is how much more dangerous this group becomes once the offense is fully healthy and clicking at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Suddenly Has A Kewan Lacy Concern Fans Feared
Kewan Lacys status was already something Ole Miss fans had been tracking closely before the trip to Missouri, and Friday night added another layer of concern. The running back went down with a lower-body injury in the first half on Oct. 17, was evaluated on the field and wound up missing most of the second quarter before returning after halftime.
For a Rebels offense that has already had to manage Lacy through a shoulder issue earlier this season, it was another reminder of how fragile the backfield can be. He had already sat out the previous game against Florida, so even though he came back in the second half, his availability moving forward is now something Ole Miss will have to monitor carefully. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Sent A Serious SEC Message Against Missouri
Ole Miss keeps stacking up the kind of wins that get attention in the SEC, and Saturdays 21-3 result over Missouri felt like another clear step forward. At Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, the Rebels controlled the game on both sides of the ball, backing up their recent momentum with a performance built on physical defense and an offense that found plenty of balance.
Missouri never got comfortable, with Ole Miss holding the Tigers to just 38 rushing yards while Kewan Lacy and Makhi Frazier helped fuel a ground game that piled up 223 yards. Trinidad Chambliss did the rest through the air and on the ground, throwing three touchdown passes and adding a score himself, leaving the Rebels with a statement win and a second straight victory to build on. [Read more 🡒]