All things considered, Ole Miss’ defense did what it could Saturday.
The No. 21 Rebels held the top-ranked Tide to 6.03 yards per play during a 25-0 loss, which seems like a lot until you consider that it was marginally less than what the Rebels gave up in a win at Vanderbilt earlier this season and below what the Tide had accomplished against both Texas A&M and Colorado State.
The problem was that Alabama ran 72 plays, 15 more than Ole Miss. The Rebels’ no-huddle offense makes time of possession an antiquated statistic (for the record it was 38:29-21:31 in favor of Alabama), but that’s generally because they score at the end of quick drives.
On Saturday, Ole Miss asked its defense to keep going out there and getting stops. It did for a while. It was 9-0 at halftime and even a manageable 16-0 after three quarters. But the Crimson Tide broke through in the fourth, and both second-half touchdowns came on long runs.
“It had to be frustrating to be on that side of the ball, and you never could get any life in us because we (the offense) never could produce,” Rebels coach Hugh Freeze said.
Safety Cody Prewitt said, “It’s hard to bend and not break against an offense like that.”
In retrospect, the game was over when Ole Miss stopped Alabama in the red zone midway through the first quarter and kicker Cade Foster made a 28-yard field goal. But those long runs, and opportunities lost, will linger with the Rebels long after they forget about this game and move on to the rest of the schedule.
Bama’s lead running back, T.J. Yeldon, made the score 16-0 less than a minute into the third quarter when he ran for a 68-yard score.
With five minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the game, his backup, Kenyan Drake (Hillgrove High), finished the scoring with a 50-yard run.
In both situations, Ole Miss had players there to make the tackle. They didn’t.
“We got a guy free to make the play and miss the tackle,” Freeze said.
There’s also the matter of three first-half Alabama fumbles, each of which somehow popped back into the hands of someone wearing crimson. Had one bounced into Ole Miss’ hands, maybe the accompanying emotional lift would have gotten the offense going.
“It’s very aggravating whenever that happens,” said Prewitt, who intercepted a pass later in the game.
Linebacker Serderius Bryant had nine tackles to lead Ole Miss, and freshman Tony Conner had seven (including one for a loss) against the school he considered attending before signing with Ole Miss in February. Overall, Prewitt said, the defense did better than it did a year ago, when Alabama scored 33 points.
“We made fewer mistakes than we did last year,” he said.
Super freshman Robert Nkemdiche (Grayson High) started the game at defensive tackle, the first time he has done so in his young career.
Nkemdiche, who came into the game with four tackles for loss in three games, had started the previous games at defensive end — the position he played in high school and was rated as the No. 1 prospect in the country.
But Ole Miss practiced this week with Nkemdiche inside as a three-technique tackle and apparently liked what it saw. His moving inside opened room for senior Cameron Whigham at the end.
About the Author
