SIDEBAR: Rebels Looking for More Consistency as Texas A&M Looms

OXFORD, Miss. - It took an interception by Ole Miss defender A.J. Finley on a throw from talented Liberty quarterback Malik Willis to seal a 27-14 Rebel victory Saturday afternoon. It was the junior's second pick of the game, and no play was more important as it turned out.

"I was kind of shocked he threw it," said Finley, who had a second-quarter interception as Ole Miss was headed for what seemed at the time to be a comfortable 24-0 lead at halftime.

"I don't think he saw me coming from the back side," Finley continued as he assessed what actually happened on the interception which came with just a minute remaining. "I was like 'I gotta go get this to seal the game.'"

With the game sealed, Ole Miss moved to 7-2 on the season and a game next Saturday night in Oxford against Texas A&M upcoming. Then Vanderbilt comes to Oxford, and the Rebels finish the regular season at Mississippi State.

Getting some additional injured players back would help in a lot of areas, and would likely make things go more smoothly in the second half of games. Recently that hasn't been the case.

On offense, which clicked on so many cylinders during the September games and into October, Ole Miss has now scored three points in each of its last two second halves - a 30-21 loss at Auburn and again Saturday against the Flames.

"Glad to get the win and get to 7-2, which is good but not great," said Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin in the postgame. "That's kinda where we are, when we really struggle to take the next step. The first half was great. Up 24-0 in the first half and had six sacks or something at halftime. That's awesome."

Kiffin readily admitted continuing the more consistent play he is looking for didn't happen for his team in the final two quarters.

"We tried to get 'em up the same way we did for the start of the game for the second half, and we didn't do that," he said. "We really played bad in the second half and lost 14-3. That's always challenging when the game goes so well at halftime, 24-0 versus a team that they don't think of as an SEC team. And you loosen up, and that's what we did."

Although the Rebels only scored three points in the second half, defensively Kiffin also said the Rebels struggled but were able to do just enough.

"We didn't tackle as well," he said. "They have a very elite player (Willis) that we contained in the first half and didn't in the second half."

Willis was 16-of-25 for 173 yards and no touchdowns, but with three interceptions. Ultimately the defense did get important stops, again, to help carry the Rebels to victory.

Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral said the Rebels have it within them that the offensive consistency can be there. They've shown it before.

"Honestly it's just staying locked in and staying on script," he said. "Keep doing the same thing we were doing in the first half. Don't change anything. Just execute. It's as easy as that."

While injuries have certainly played a role, continuity continues to be something the Rebels look for, something that the team appeared to have during those earlier games this season.

"It was almost like the Arkansas game reversed, where we played really good on one side and not on the other," Kiffin said. "Nine sacks is awesome. Three interceptions. The play counts got lopsided 81-55 because we weren't making third downs on offense, which is obviously an issue. That put our defense back on the field a lot."

But it was all enough to get to 7-2, and if nothing else, that was the ultimate goal in this game.

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Players Mentioned

Matt Corral

The University of Mississippi Athletics