The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Puts Away Tigers to Head into Bye Week
10/1/2016 | Football, Blog
With 3:36 left in the third quarter, Ole Miss had allowed Memphis to march down the field for a 99-yard touchdown drive to pull the game to within one score. A three possession lead had been diminished to six points.รย
This time, there were no self-inflicted wounds to let momentum swing too far into their opponent's favor. Ole Miss quickly went 65 yards capped off by a Chad Kelly touchdown pass to Evan Engram. The defense then forced a three-and-out on the Tigers' next possession and the Rebels added another touchdown. Memphis' comeback attempt was successful snuffed out.
The Rebels had an answer each time the Tigers made a push to get back in the game, finishing Memphis off 48-28.รย
"I'm really happy to get this one over with," Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said. "They are a very dangerous football team that will win a lot of games. They're very talented. I give credit to our kids. We've had a very emotional September. For us to come out tonight and take care of business against another undefeated team, I'm really pleased."
The Ole Miss offense once again was clicking from the very beginning, piling up over 600 yards against a defense that had allowed 27 points over their first three games.
"Offensively, we answered when we needed to," Freeze said. "We were efficient for most of the night. We were very balanced which makes us pretty good."
The Rebels were able to have real success on the ground, especially in the second half when they piled up over 200 yards rushing. Both Akeem Judd and Eugene Brazley eclipsed 100 yards, the first time the Rebels produced two 100-yard rushers since 2014. For Ole Miss under Freeze, 150 yards on the ground has been the magic number. When the Rebels eclipse that mark like they did tonight, they're 32-3 since 2012.รย
"We worked really hard on a plan to rush the ball against these guys," Freeze said. "They do a lot of different stuff. You can always be one play behind against them because they're so multiple in what they do. We worked very hard on a check system that would get us into the soundest play against them."
Ole Miss' defense was able to return to their opportunistic form, forcing Memphis into four turnovers on the game. Ole Miss finished on the right side of the turnover margin for the second game in a row, this time +3. When Ole Miss wins the turnover battle since 2014, they're now 12-1.รย
"Turnovers always impact the game," Freeze said. "It was nice to see. We've been on the other end of that twice this year where the turnovers cost us games."
Ole Miss gets a very valuable bye week to rest some injuries and have a week to help younger players become more comfortable in the system.
"We have a lot of kids out," Freeze said. "Some are not coming back, obviously. For some of the younger kids, we can quit game planning for half of the practice and just work on technique and our eyes being in the right place. We won't have long practices but half of them we can work on some stuff."
After the week of rest, the Rebels jump right back into the gauntlet that is the SEC with road trips to Arkansas and LSU.รย
