Ole Miss Football delivered a resounding victory over Missouri at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 17. The 31-3 demolition marked the second consecutive blowout win by the Rebels and built positive momentum for the squad heading into a road matchup against Texas. Here are letter grades from the contest.
Rushing attack — A-
Running backs Kewan Lacy and Makhi Frazier put on a rushing clinic. They rushed for 223 combined yards on 31 attempts, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. While Lacy was sidelined with an injury in the second quarter, he came back with a fire lit under him.
Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss added four carries for 14 yards and a touchdown. Chambliss’ touchdown was the only rushing score the Rebels recorded in the game.
Coming into the game, Missouri was ranked eighth nationally in rush defense, only letting up 78.3 yards per game. Paired with that, Ole Miss struggled to run the ball against LSU and Florida.
While Lacy’s presence is huge, Ole Miss had success both with and without him. That should be encouraging for Rebel fans as Lacy’s availability continues to waver. The rushing game also takes pressure off Chambliss. Even when he has a less-than-stellar performance like he did on Saturday, the Rebels still had resounding success offensively.
Rush defense — A+
Building on the offense’s high grades in the run game, the Ole Miss defense stepped up in a shocking way on Saturday.
Before the matchup, Ole Miss gave up 176.4 yards per game, which put them at 112th out of 138 FBS teams. The general consensus was that Missouri would destroy the Rebels on the ground behind star running back Jamal Roberts; however, the opposite happened.
Ole Miss completely neutralized Missouri’s rushing attack, holding the Tigers to 38 yards on the ground in the entire contest. They averaged a yard and a half on 26 carries. This emphatic showing went against the theme of the entire season to this point and is hopefully a sign of good things to come.
Luke Ferrelli — A
Linebacker Ferrelli recorded five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, including a sack. The California transfer leads the team with 39 tackles. His presence was certainly felt against Missouri.
“What I love for (Ferrelli) are the things that he’s been working on really hard, showed up on tape,” head coach Pete Golding said in a press conference on Monday, Oct. 19. “That created some confidence for him because he was getting frustrated. Athletic ability has never been the issue.”
The Ole Miss defense has shined at times this season, but it showed up from start to finish against Missouri. Ferrelli was a large contributor to the team’s defensive performance.
“A lot of (defensive issues have) been from a technical standpoint of pressing the football and angles of staying inside out,” Golding said. “I was really happy for (Ferrelli) that his hard work paid off and (he) was able to be productive, because he’s going to be a really good football player.”
Secondary — C
In run support, the Ole Miss secondary did a great job. In pass coverage, the unit was not as successful.
Safety Sharif Denson continued to shine. He made nine tackles, six of which were solo, and one was for a loss. Denson and Joenel Aguero flew around the field from their safety positions with high-energy plays.
On a negative note, the secondary allowed Austin Simmons to throw for 339 yards. Tiger receiver Donovan Olugbode had nine receptions for 127 yards.
Even though the Tigers did not score a touchdown, pass coverage is an area of improvement for practice this week.
Oscar Bird — A
Punters rarely get the recognition they deserve in player ratings, but that stops today. Bird had an incredible performance on Saturday, helping the Ole Miss defense by flipping the field four times.
All four of Bird’s punts landed inside the 20-yard line. The highlight of his day was a soaring 50-yard punt that Missouri fielded at its own 8-yard line.
Bird’s punts consistently put Missouri in bad field position and were a significant part of holding the Tigers to just three points.
