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The University of Mississippi Athletics
GAMEDAY PREVIEW: No. 3 Ole Miss vs. Vanderbilt
9/26/2015 | Football
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OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC) returns to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to face the Vanderbilt Commodores (1-2, 0-1 SEC) after knocking off Alabama in a thrilling SEC opener last week. The Rebels will sport their powder blue helmets to show support for Mike Slive in a Prostate Cancer Awareness game.
The Rebels are off to a 3-0 start for the third consecutive year and have climbed to No. 3 in the Associated Press poll from last week's No. 15 rank. They moved up from No. 11 to No. 5 in the coaches poll. They prepare to take on Vanderbilt, who head coach Hugh Freeze says has a crafty offense.
"You have to adjust and be gap sound against those guys because they are going to try to get you moving," Freeze said. "With all the shifts and motions, you can be a bit gap-unsound. So they present an issue."
Vanderbilt dropped its first two games. The first was to Western Kentucky, a 12-14 loss, followed by a defeat to Georgia, their only SEC game so far. They rebounded against Austin Peay with a 47-7 victory.
The Landshark defense was able to force five turnovers last week against the Crimson Tide, including three interceptions. Their 10 turnovers forced and seven interceptions this season leads the SEC and ties for the national lead. Ole Miss tops the nation in scoring offense at 64.0 points per outing.
"I want both to be number one," Freeze said of the offense and defense. "I am an offensive guy. I like when we score points, but defense wins big games for us. We have to get some stops."
The Rebel offense continued to click against a difficult opponent on the road last week. This week, it looks to continue its strides at home. The Rebels are led by junior quarterback Chad Kelly, who tops the SEC in pass efficiency (205.7), passing TDs (9), points responsible for (72), yards per pass attempt (12.3) and yards per completion (19.1).
The offense has been able to keep its balance of run and pass, even without All-American left tackle Laremy Tunsil. The Rebels may also be without a couple of other linemen due to injuries. Freeze even suggested tight end/short-yardage quarterback Jeremy Liggins could see snaps at tackle.
"We'll go with Rod (Taylor) and if (Justin) Bell can't go we'll go with Taylor and Jordan (Sims) at right guard," noted Freeze. "We'll leave the rest of it pretty much the same. Justin wasn't just our guard, but he's our backup center. (Robert) Conyers is a little dinged right now, so we'll have to see who we can install that we have confidence in. But we'll have to get someone else ready, probably (Jacob) Feeley, a walk-on guy, who we are very glad to have that'll have to be a backup snapper also. You might see (Jeremy) Liggins take some snaps at offensive tackle."
This meeting is the 90th between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt dating back to 1894. The Rebels lead the series 49-38-2 and have won 15 of the last 22 meetings since 1992. Ole Miss leads 49-20-2 in SEC games versus VU. Vanderbilt won the first 19 games in the series, with Ole Miss having won 49 of the last 70 meetings.
