Ole Miss football: Position grades after loss to Alabama

Ole Miss was run off the field by Alabama on Saturday afternoon in a 42-21 defeat that wasn’t as close as the final score.

The Rebels were beaten soundly up front, which rendered the rest of the game’s subplots moot. Let’s take a look at some position grades.

Quarterback: B+

Truthfully, it is tough to evaluate Matt Corral after a game like that because of the constant pressure he faced from the moment he possessed each snap. But on the rare occurrences he had time to throw and wasn’t behind the sticks, he played pretty well. Corral finished 21-of-29 for 213 yards and 1 touchdown. He ran in a touchdown as well. He had his first turnover of the season on a strip-sack that was the proverbial nail in the coffin for the Rebels, but Ole Miss didn’t lose this game because of Corral.

Running backs: C

Ole Miss couldn’t run with much effectiveness, primarily due to the offensive line being manhandled up front, but the running backs didn’t help the cause, either. Jerrion Ealy sometimes struggles to stay on balance after initial contact, and that ended up hurting the Rebels in the form of a failed 4th-and-1 conversion at the Alabama 5 on the game’s first drive. Ealy was met at the line of scrimmage and fell immediately backward as the Crimson Tide thwarted the effort. Why Snoop Conner wasn’t used more in short-yardage situations remains puzzling, too. Ole Miss ran for 78 yards. That dog won’t hunt. This offense is far less effective when the Rebels cannot rush the football, and it was a significant factor in the loss.

Wide receivers: B

Not having Jonathan Mingo healthy hurt this group.  Jadon Jackson was decent filling in for Mingo, but struggled to create separation. The Rebels missed Mingo’s physicality on the outside. Dontario Drummond help convert a couple of key 1st downs early in the game, and Braylon Sanders played well. The issue was more of a lack of time delivering these guys the football.

Offensive line: F

Alabama’s defensive line destroyed the Ole Miss offensive line, and nothing else mattered once that became evident. There’s no scheme that will compensate for a lack of blocking, and the Rebels never stood a shot with the way the offensive line played. This was a slight concern heading into the game, but I don’t think anyone figured this group would struggle as badly as it did throughout the night. Corral was sacked twice and hurried 7 times. Ole Miss averaged just more than 2 yards per rush and couldn’t do anything offensively because of how badly it was beaten at the line of scrimmage.

Defensive line: C

I actually thought this defensive line had some good moments in the pass-rushing department, but it still wasn’t consistently pressuring Bryce Young enough to stifle the Alabama passing attack. That, coupled with the fact that the Crimson Tide ran at will between the tackles, is why this group grades out low. Ole Miss couldn’t stop Alabama, and more specifically, couldn’t stop Brian Robinson Jr., who ran for 171 yards and 4 touchdowns on 36 carries. Alabama reverted back to 2011 Alabama in the sense that it played a bit of ball-control offense via the ground game and kept the Rebels’ offense off the field. This 3-2-6 scheme won’t consistently stop teams from running on Ole Miss. That’s a problem, and I am not sure it has the personnel to fix it.

Linebackers: B-

A similar story to the defensive line here, but at least the Rebels’ 2 starting linebackers combined to make 18 tackles. I didn’t  think Chance Campbell had a great game. A missed tackle on Young near the goal line was costly early, but they populated the football well. The only problem was that usually came 7-8 yards down the field. This group wasn’t as bad as the defensive line, but it didn’t really help the cause when it came to stopping the run.

Secondary: B

Keidron Smith recorded an interception, and Otis Reese played a pretty good game. This secondary was in a tough spot with the amount of time Young had to throw the football, and the team’s inability to stop the run opened up a lot in the RPO and play-action game for Alabama. It’s tough to evaluate this secondary given the issues the Rebels had up front, but it certainly wasn’t the weakest link in what was a brutal day for this Ole Miss defense

Brian Rippee