What's up everyone, I'm back with the what I see series now that Ole Miss is on the clock as we play them in the Fiesta Bowl for a chance to play in the natty. As usual, I chose 6 Ole Miss games to watch. I watched the Arkansas, UF, LSU, UGA(Regular Season), Tulane(CFP), and UGA(Sugar Bowl) games.
https://youtu.be/Vz2JTZ-RU6w?si=n7_-uyIQ-tlR4wvD
Coaching
I haven't really touched on coaching situations with previous editions of what I see but because of how unique Ole Miss's coaching situation is I felt compelled to touch on it. There's no other way to put what's going on at Ole Miss but an absolute mess, but when you watch how Ole Miss has performed in their last two games you see a team that is energized and galvanized. The players seem to be where their feet are and not letting outside noise get to them. The offense hasn't missed a beat so far, and the defense actually looks better and playing with more fire. Our team needs to prep for this team because even without Lane they've put up at least 37 points in their past two games.
Offense
Ole Miss's offense starts and stops with their dynamic QB-RB duo of Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy. Chambliss became the starter after Austin Simmons got hurt. Chambliss made his initial start against Arkansas and hasn't looked back since. Chambliss is an athlete as he can hurt you with his legs. He's accounted for over 500yds rushing and 8Tds on the ground. As a passer, Chambliss has a quick release, he's also decisive and accurate with the ball. I hear people comparing Chambliss to Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed, but that's a mistake in my opinion. Chambliss doesn't have as many errant throws as Reed and way less Ints. Chambliss only has 3ints in 12 games as the starter, compared to Reed who had 10ints in 12 regular season games, 12 if you include his game against us. Chambliss is also tough as nails as he's taken some shots and gotten back up. Chambliss is a really impressive player. Chambliss does a good job of spreading the wealth, he doesn't have a favorite receiver, he finds the open man and gets the ball to them. Chambliss can hold on to the ball a bit too long at times. He also can get happy feet trying to extend the play and will miss the check down on occasion.
At RB, Kewan Lacy is the star. He's the lone All-American player on Ole Miss's team. Lacy has rushed for almost 1500yds and 23Tds this season. Lacy also makes this Ole Miss offense go. Lacy has forced over 100 missed tackles this year. What's even more impressive when you watch Lacy is how often he runs between the tackles. On the broadcast they mentioned him being 5'11 200lbs but just looking at him, I'd be surprised if he weighed over 190lbs. I do feel like the accumulation of touches are starting to take a toll on Lacy's body. Against Tulane he took some shots and UGA was a physical battle. On a couple of occasions during the UGA game, Lacy was slow getting up. One of the more underrated aspects of Lacy's game is his willingness to stick his head in there to pick up the tough yards on short yardage situations. Multiple times on film you see Ole Miss going for it on 4th&1 and Lacy's the one picking it up. Really good player. The backup to Lacy is Logan Diggs, he hasn't gotten much work as Ole Miss really relies on Kewan as the workhorse back.
At TE, Dequan Wright (#8) is the name to know. First thing that sticks out is his size (6'4, 255lbs) but don't let that fool you because Wright moves like he's 230lbs. Wright does most of his damage in the middle of the field and really attacks the intermediate area of the field. Wright averages 16yds a catch, an impressive number for a TE.
At WR there's no singular name to know, there's a quartet as Chambliss doesn't stick to one guy. Stribling (#1) is a speed demon. Watch the comeback route he houses for 75yds to score a TD against UGA(regular season). He outran the safety who had the angle on him. Duece Alexander (#11) is a smooth player and looks like their best WR on film in my opinion. Harrison Wallace (#2) is a good player. Cayden Lee (#19) shows up on film from time to time. All of them average 14 or more yds a catch so there's some legit speed with this group.
Something of note about Ole Miss's offense, there's 7 players with at least 25 catches on the season.
The weakness of Ole Miss's team is their trenches. Right now, it's a push between OSU and Ole Miss for worse OL we'll see in the playoffs but Ole Miss's scheme does a good job of protecting their OL. The quick passing game ensures the ball is out fast and Ole Miss loves to spread out defenses to lighten the box making things easier from a numbers standpoint in the run game. I will say this about Ole Miss's line, there's instances where they generate a good push on short yardage situations.
Ole Miss's offense is comfortable getting into shootouts.
Something that shows up on film is just how often Ole Miss goes for it on 4th&1.
Defense
Ole Miss's defense was underwhelming to watch on film. It's a bend don't break approach that clearly breaks multiple times on film. I will say that that the defense has shown more fight during the playoffs.
On the DL, Will Echoles (#52) and Zxavien Harris (#51) are the names to know. They both play DT and flash. Echoles and Harris are big bodies. Princewill Umanmielen (#1) is their pass rushing specialist, he leads the team with 8 sacks. This group has been pushed around on multiple instances this season. I really like this matchup.
LBer is the strenght of Ole Miss's defense in my opinion. The best player on Ole Miss's defense is Santarine Perkins (#4). He flashes repeatedly and comes up big when Ole Miss needs a stop. He's their playmaker on defense. Something of note about Perkins is he led Ole Miss in sacks last year with 10.5 but this year he only has 3. I'm not sure what led to the steep drop-off but that's something I found interesting. TJ Dottery is a solid player.
The weakness of Ole Miss's defense is their secondary and it's apparent in the UF game as DJ Lagway had himself a day against them. One area you really see Ole Miss struggle in is defending the play action pass. You see Ole Miss's secondary struggle when placed in conflict. The best player in Ole Miss's secondary is their safety Wydett Williams (#16). UGA made it a point to attack their other safety, #14 Gushiken. I like this matchup.
This is the worst secondary we will see in the playoffs.
Special Teams
Ole Miss has an absolute WEAPON with their kicker Lucas Carneiro. Dude is a stud past 40yds - he's 12/14 from distance. 27/30 overall.
The punter, Oscar Bird, is good as he's average 46.0 yds per punt.
Key Takeaways
Chambliss likes to extend plays, I could see our corner blizt with Keonte being effective against Ole Miss. It worked against SMU and Texas A&M who have similar approaches on offense.
Due to Ole Miss's approach on offense with the quick passing game, QB pressures and hits may be as good as a sack as it speeds up Chambliss's process.
We need to take away Chambliss's 1st read as it'll provide more time for our rush to get home.
When we do get home, we have to finish it off with a sack. Kevin Jennings(SMU QB) got us a couple of times with his Houdini act. Chambliss showed in the UGA game(CFP) he can pull off his own Houdini act.
Chambliss is dangerous with his legs, our DL needs to be discipline and remain in their rush lanes.
Ole Miss will run Chambliss on designed runs. If they try that with us we need to put Chambliss into concussion protocol.
Chambliss spreads the ball around so our defense will have to account for all WRs, TEs and RBs on the field.
Kewan Lacy has been showing signs recently that the elongated season is taking a toll on his body(slight frame). We need to be physical with him. Hit Kewan Lacy. Make him feel us.
Tackling needs to be clean. Lacy is a monster at forcing missed tackles. Their WRs have the speed to make you pay for missing a tackle. Can't have missed tackles against speed like this.
SMU killed us with dumpoff passes to the flats and up the sideline. Ole Miss has those outlet passes built into their offense as well so we need to be ready for it.
Our LBers need to get enough depth on their drops as their TE Wright is a massive target in the middle field.
Having OJ and Damari back for this game would be huge. (SN: I don't think we see OJ back at all, I don't care what Mario says)
TFLs and getting stops on the initial 3rd down of each Ole Miss drive is going to be key to slowing down their tempo.
Our OL needs to dominate this matchup in the trenches. Against a team like Ole Miss, running the ball down their throats might be the best defense against them. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing 40 rushes on the night.
Kentucky ran for 172yds. UGA ran for 221yds. Mississippi State ran for 262yds. Teams have run the ball well on Ole Miss, we need to do the same.
On the flip side, Ole Miss has run for 200yds or more 5 times this season against GSU, Kentucky, UF, USC and Tulane. Ole Miss has rushed for at least 150yds 10 times this season so their running game is potent.
In Ole Miss's only loss this season, they rushed for 88yds on 24 carries. In their win against UGA, they rushed for 111yds on 27 carries. We need to keep Ole Miss below 100yds rushing.
Ole Miss's DTs are massive. 6'3 310lbs and 6'7 325lbs. We may need to help Brockermyer this week.
Ole Miss is vulnerable in the backend of their defense and teams like UGA, Arkansas, UF and Tulane took advantage of that, but it played into Ole Miss's favor because it gave their offense more opportunities to score. All it takes is one missed throw on 3rd down and you're punting as opposed to keeping the ball away from their offense and killing clock.
We need to dominate time of possession at least 2:1. That means 40mins for us, 20mins for them. We do that and I have a hard time seeing us lose.
The lowest scoring output that Ole Miss has put up all year was 24 and that was against LSU and Washington State. We'll need to put points on the board.
UGA scored 43 and 35 points on Ole Miss. Arkansas scored 35points. UF scored 24 and Kentucky scored 23 points with anemic offenses. I'd be looking to put up at least 30 points on Ole Miss.
Ole Miss's kicker is legit and has the leg to kick from 60. We need to be aware that once Ole Miss crosses the 45 they're in range to get 3.
As always, let me know what you guys see....
