Ole Miss Football suffered its worst defeat in nearly three years against Florida in Week 4. The Rebels played truly uninspiring football. At this point in the season, Ole Miss controls its own destiny, but head coach Pete Golding’s squad lacks a true identity, and there may be a culture issue in the locker room.
The only thing Rebel fans can hang their hats on after the blowout loss is that quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is still firmly in the Heisman running. Chambliss left it all on the field Saturday afternoon. Nothing came easy for Ole Miss in The Swamp, and Chambliss struggled at times, but he showed grit and determination.
Chambliss came out hot in the second half with a 14-yard completion, then a 49-yard dime to put the Rebels in the red zone. Wide receiver Deuce Alexander caught both of those passes. He continued to be a reliable target, coming up with seven catches on eight targets for 134 yards and a touchdown.
Chambliss ran in the end zone for the touchdown to make it a 3-point game. The defense coughed up another touchdown, but Chambliss came to the rescue with an even more heroic drive. He led the Rebels on a 15-play drive that started at the Ole Miss 26-yard line. He ran the ball four times for 28 yards and added another rushing touchdown.
He put the team on his back, yet it was not enough. Chambliss looked great in the second half, but what about the first half? He had a measly 88 passing yards through 30 minutes. Is Ole Miss Football only good for one solid half of offense every week? A quarter of the way through the season, it would certainly appear so.
It is frightening that Chambliss had one rushing attempt in the first half and hardly aired the ball out at all before offensive coordinator John David Baker let him play his game. Ole Miss coaches should not seriously believe that taking the ball out of the hands of one of the country’s best players for 30 minutes every week is going to lead to wins.
Now, entering the bye week, the Rebels are still raising questions — and there do not seem to be answers.
Moreover, a team led by an alleged defensive-minded head coach surely cannot be proud of giving up 498 yards, including 302 on the ground.
Golding’s defense, if you can call it that, has allowed an SEC-worst 30.75 points per game this season. That trails Arkansas’ 27 points per game, and Razorback fans put bags over their heads to show their frustrations in Week 3.
The Ole Miss roster cost roughly $40 million. Golding claimed the team added more “depth” to the defensive front in the offseason. The team brought in Blake Purchase, Jonathan Maldonado, Jehiem Oatis, Jordan Renaud and Michai Boireau. The team also returned Suntarine Perkins, Kam Franklin and Will Echoles.
To this point, all this investment has gotten the defense six sacks, good for second to last in the SEC, and 23 tackles for loss, which is ninth in the conference.
At times, the defense has looked good — like in the first half against Louisville, when the unit only allowed six points, and the first half against LSU, when it only allowed seven points. Linebacker Keaton Thomas spoke about the team’s inconsistency after the Florida game.
“I mean, this is a very humbling game, but this is why it’s the best sport in the world — because you could be high one night and low the other night,” Thomas said. “I think we need to get guys even-keeled: not get too high, not get too low.”
The secondary is not exactly elite either. The group did little to stop big gains from the Gator run game and was a major question mark after Week 1, though it has looked better as the season has progressed.
The Rebels cannot even rely on kicker Lucas Carneiro right now. He struggled to get the ball in the end zone on kickoffs against Florida. He has been mostly reliable from a field goal standpoint, going 7-of-9 to begin the season.
The special teams unit gave Florida great field position on several occasions. Like the defense, the special teamers could not make tackles. Sometimes, it felt as though they could not even get near the ball carrier.
Ole Miss Football does not seem to excel at much right now. The passing game has looked beautiful at times, but only for half the game. Rebel running backs have been largely ineffective. The defense has not come remotely close to meeting expectations. The only thing Ole Miss Football has going for it right now is Chambliss. He is the X-factor, but he needs help.
To make matters worse, there is a clear disconnect between Golding and some players right now. The Rebels could not come up with tackles all game, but at halftime, Golding addressed the team about it — to little effect.
“We had a lot of guys trying to ankle-bite, diving at ankles and all those things,” Golding said. “There was a lack of courage, in my opinion, at times that we were picking and choosing.”
The major issue was that Gator running back Jadan Baugh is elite, and the Rebels hardly went chest-to-chest with him to get him down. Thomas spoke about the outcome of Golding’s speech.
“I think some guys took it and other guys didn’t, and I think that showed in that second half,” Thomas said. “I’m going to make it evident … to call guys out.”
Right now, fans have every reason to be upset about the loss. There is plenty of time to get back on the right track, but with two weeks until the Rebels are back on the field, Ole Miss’ future remains largely unknown.
“I told the team after the LSU game, ‘This is one game. This doesn’t define your season.’ It’s a ‘What have you done for me lately’ business,” Golding said in the postgame press conference. “It’s no different for tonight. The sun’s going to come up tomorrow, and we’re going into a bye week. … We’ve got a lot of issues right now in all three phases that we’ve got to address.”
