No. 4 Ole Miss heads into Saturday’s trip to No. 21 Florida with plenty to sort out, and the Rebels’ biggest questions are sitting right at the line of scrimmage and in the secondary.
The matchup in Gainesville comes with a familiar sting for Ole Miss, too. The Rebels haven’t won at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in almost 20 years, and now they’re back in The Swamp facing a Florida team that has opened 3-0 under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall.
Ole Miss is also 3-0 after beating LSU, 32-24, in Week 3, a game that turned Trinidad Chambliss into the betting Heisman Trophy favorite. He threw for 363 yards and three total touchdowns while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes.
One of the first things to watch is the Rebels’ running back situation. Pete Golding said earlier this week that Kewan Lacy will be a “game-time decision” because of a shoulder injury. That leaves Ole Miss waiting until Saturday warm-ups to find out whether its top back can go, and even if he dresses, he won’t be close to full strength.
That makes the depth behind him more important than ever. Michigan State transfer Makhi Frazier was off the initial SEC availability report, which points to a return to the rotation after he hadn’t played since Week 2.
If Lacy is limited or unavailable, Frazier and JT Lindsey could carry more of the load and help keep the offense balanced. The two already showed they could work together in the second half of Ole Miss’ Week 1 win over Louisville, when Lacy missed most of the final two quarters with a thigh injury.
Last week, with Frazier and Lacy both in the mix late, Lindsey was again used in spurts to help close things out.
On defense, the Rebels are trying to clean up a run defense that has been too easy to push around. Ole Miss is allowing 159 rushing yards per game, which ranks 85th nationally and near the bottom of the SEC at No. 14 through three weeks. That’s a problem heading into a game against Florida junior Jadan Baugh, who has already piled up 458 rushing yards, the second-most in FBS, along with eight touchdowns on 54 carries for an 8.4 yards-per-carry average.
Ole Miss knows exactly what kind of back it’s facing. “He's a pretty big back,” Ole Miss defensive end Blake Purchase said of Baugh.
“He's got good speed. He's got good balance.
He's forced a lot of broken tackles. We've got to do a good job of wrapping him up and getting him on the ground.
He's physical out there and has a good stiff-arm.”
Florida transfer safety Sharif Denson, who spent at least two seasons in Gainesville, added, “I used to see (Baugh) every day. He runs under his pads,” Florida transfer safety Sharif Denson explained.
“He's very strong in the weight room, very strong on the field. He has good hands, good pass block.
He really can do everything."
Denson is one of two Ole Miss defenders with Florida ties, along with defensive tackle Michai Boireau. Denson made his Ole Miss debut against LSU and immediately gave the secondary a boost, finishing with a team-high nine tackles and a tackle for loss. As a senior, he has already shown value as a communicator and veteran presence.
Boireau, meanwhile, has only three tackles this season, but Golding says his impact goes well beyond the stat sheet. “I brought up Michai about a month ago.
I’m like y’all don't know who he is right now. But after these games, you’re going to ask ‘who’s 88?’.
He’s 330 (pounds), heavy-handed and he can move for a big boy,” Golding said of Boireau on Thursday on RebTalk. “There’s been a lot of focus on Will (Echoles), that’s creating some opportunities for people.
I think Michai has played really well.”
That gives Saturday an extra layer. Denson and Boireau both know Florida from the inside, and both will be dealing with old faces in a game that carries its own kind of edge.
Denson said it plainly earlier this week: “It’s a different coaching staff. Defensive coordinator and head coach, I left before I even talked to them so I don’t have a connection with them.
Just playing against my old teammates though, that’s going to be fun,” Denson said Tuesday. “It’s going to be an experience (to) definitely get back on the field with them.”
By the time the Rebels leave The Swamp, they’ll have a better read on three major questions: whether Lacy can play, whether the run defense can hold up, and whether those Florida imports can make a real dent against their former team.
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