Ole Miss will return home to face South Carolina on Nov. 1. The Rebels are coming off a 34-26 win this past weekend against Oklahoma. This victory was historic for head coach Lane Kiffin, as it marked his first-ever ranked win on the road against an SEC opponent.
The Gamecocks are 3-5 this season, but they may be better than their record indicates. All five of their losses have come against in-conference teams, only one of whom is not currently ranked in the AP Top 25 — LSU.
In Ole Miss’ game against Oklahoma, the offense continued to build on its strong performance in Athens, Ga. The unit scored 34 points, and the offensive line only gave up one sack.
The defense improved. A week ago, the Rebels gave up 34 first downs; this week, they only surrendered 14. Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy had a bounceback game, too, with 78 rushing yards and two touchdowns, an upgrade from 31 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the week before against Georgia.
Though his production is lower than in other games this season — against Kentucky, he rushed for 138 yards — head coach Lane Kiffin emphasized that Lacy is still filling a vital role.
“He hasn’t had the huge yardage numbers the last two weeks against two really good defenses, but there are a lot of important hidden yards that are so critical for this team,” Kiffin said in a postgame press conference. “He gets us a lot of yards that can set up different packages, which then lead to touchdowns.”
Lacy is coming from playing the No. 3-ranked rush defense in the country in Oklahoma to the No. 75-ranked rush defense in South Carolina. The Rebels need to have Lacy in the gameplan to give themselves a better shot at winning this football game.
This past weekend, the Gamecocks dropped a 22-14 fourth quarter lead against No. 4 Alabama at home. The Crimson Tide delivered a knockout blow late in the fourth quarter when Deontae Lawson punched the ball out of South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ grasp; Alabama capitalized on good field position from the turnover and won the game by seven.
Still, Sellers was sharp. He threw for 222 yards and a touchdown and ran for 67 yards and another touchdown. On the other side of the ball, the Gamecocks’ defense held Alabama’s offense to only 14 points through the first three quarters.
To win, the Rebels will need to continue improving the run game. At 7-1, they control their postseason fate; they have three straight home games and are favored in all four of their remaining contests. Yet, the SEC has proven to be one of the toughest conferences in the country, and surprises can unfold any given week. The Rebels must not look past this game.
