Ole Miss comes out of its bye with a clear example sitting right in front of it.
The Rebels were off this week while the rest of the SEC played on, and now they turn to a second straight road game next week against Vanderbilt in Tennessee. Ole Miss is trying to shake off a tough loss to Florida, and Vanderbilt’s 38-14 defeat to Georgia offered a pretty simple lesson for how to handle the Commodores.
Georgia didn’t blow the game open right away. Vanderbilt stayed in it through the first half, trailing by only seven while the offense moved the ball well enough to keep things honest. The Commodores outgained Georgia 234-215 and ran the ball 18 times, but the second half turned into a different kind of game.
That’s where the blueprint comes in.
Georgia got Vanderbilt off schedule by winning on third down and forcing long stretches without the ball. The Commodores went 5-for-9 on third down in the first half, then failed to convert a single third down after halftime.
That shutdown changed everything. Vanderbilt ran only 16 plays in the second half, while Georgia ran 37 and possessed the ball for 20 minutes.
The first drive after halftime told the story. Georgia went 75 yards in 11 plays and burned 6:39 off the clock. Vanderbilt answered with a seven-minute march that went nowhere, and the Commodores ended up with just two possessions in the second half.
For Ole Miss, that’s the formula. Georgia controlled tempo, stayed on the field, and kept Vanderbilt from getting into any rhythm once the game moved into the second half. The Rebels have not won the time-of-possession battle in three of their four games, and if Kewan Lacy returns, that could help Ole Miss manage the pace better.
At times this season, the Rebels have leaned too far into a pass-heavy identity. That’s not the path they should want here. Georgia showed the cleaner approach: convert on third down, keep drives alive, and move the ball methodically.
There’s also a quarterback situation to watch. Vanderbilt played without starting quarterback Jared Curtis, and that adds another wrinkle to the matchup.
Even so, the bigger issue for Ole Miss is its own defense. Florida’s running backs wore the Rebels down, and Pete Golding’s group had another rough outing after the bye week.
The good news for Ole Miss is that Vanderbilt is vulnerable, and the Rebels should have urgency after the Florida loss. With eight conference games left, there isn’t much margin to work with. Ole Miss can probably survive one more loss before its College Football Playoff hopes start to slip into danger.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Suddenly Has A Backfield Question Fans Will Be Watching
Kewan Lacy is expected to be back in the Ole Miss lineup against Vanderbilt after using the bye week to rest and rehab the injured left shoulder that had kept him out. Pete Golding said Lacy was back at practice in a limited capacity, which gives the Rebels a clearer picture of their backfield heading into the next stretch, even after JT Lindsey and Makhi Frazier helped carry the load in his absence.
Lacys return matters because Ole Miss has had to distribute touches differently without him, and the way that rotation settles against Vanderbilt will be worth watching. Lindsey and Frazier have kept the position moving, but getting Lacy back into the mix adds another layer for a team trying to stay balanced and healthy as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Still Has A Shot With This Blue-Chip Oregon Commit
Tae Walden Jr. has already given Oregon an early win on the recruiting trail, but the four-star 2027 athlete is still the kind of prospect worth monitoring for Ole Miss. The Rebels have stayed involved with the two-way standout, who has impressed in high school on both sides of the ball as a receiver and defensive back, and he has already spent time on campus in Oxford.
Waldens commitment gives Oregon a head start in a class that is already drawing attention for its talent at receiver and defensive back, but Ole Miss has not gone away. He is also planning to return later in the season, which keeps the Rebels in the conversation as they look to chip away at a loaded Ducks pledge and see whether the visit brings them any closer. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Defense Faces A Defining Test After Two Weeks Off
Ole Miss spent the bye week trying to clean up the kind of defensive issues that have already shown up in glaring fashion this season, especially the missed tackles that piled up against Florida. The Rebels have leaned heavily on transfers across the defensive depth chart, and the extra time off was supposed to help with the communication and execution problems that have made this group look out of sync at times.
Vanderbilt now offers a timely measuring stick. The opener after two weeks without a game should show whether the Rebels used the break to make real progress or simply rest and reset, because this is the kind of matchup where better fundamentals have to show up quickly. For a defense still searching for answers, the response in this game matters almost as much as the result. [Read more 🡒]