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Ole Miss is in familiar territory. The Rebels have a really good football team, and maybe a handful of people outside the fan base thinks they have a shot against Alabama.
ESPN’s College GameDay won’t be in Oxford on Saturday for No. 19 Ole Miss’ battle with No. 1 Alabama. Katy Perry won’t likely be there like she was two seasons ago. What will be there is the same doubt the general football public has for Ole Miss.
It doesn’t come totally unfairly. Alabama is already comfortable two weeks into the season at No. 1 with a statement win over Southern Cal and a plenty-good-enough-for-everyone-not-named-Nick-Saban win over Western Kentucky.
The Rebels are 1-1 with mixed emotions. They were up 28-6 and annihilating Florida State on opening night in Orlando only to lose after a lethargic second half when the offense couldn’t stay on the field long enough to let the defense have a few sips of energy.
They beat Wofford on Saturday, but that cupcake couldn’t have come at a worse time. Ole Miss is still trying to figure out what to do at corner after losing its best cover in Kendarius Webster in the opener. Senior Tony Bridges is the obvious answer who just hasn’t been the answer, and he is surrounded by freshmen about to get a taste of a very angry Alabama team anxious to beat the Rebels for the first time in three years.
The Rebels are loaded at receiver, but freshman D.K. Metcalf is now lost after breaking a bone in his foot. He made highlight-worthy touchdown catches two weeks in a row. He had already become a large part of the red zone playbook at 6-foot-4, 217 physical pounds, a scary weapon in the corner.
There are plenty of receivers, but the running back position is chasing its first 100-yard rusher, and with the losses of Jordan Wilkins and Eric Swinney, Akeem Judd needs Eugene Brazley to be about 20 pounds heavier.
Ole Miss didn’t learn about its pass defense in the opener because it was a scramble when Webster went down. It didn’t allow anything to Wofford because Wofford didn’t want anything through the air.
That’s the 250 words the general football public sees when it sees Ole Miss. They don’t see the back-to-back wins. They think Chad Kelly is good enough to carry the Rebels to wins against everyone except Alabama.
They see that Alabama has allowed 87 rushing yards on 52 carries through two games and that receiver ArDarius Stewart has been impossible to guard and that the Rebels allowed 419 passing yards to another freshman.
They know no one has beaten Saban three straight times and ignore that only one other coach (Les Miles) had done it twice in a row until Hugh Freeze did.
Ole Miss’ defense held Dalvin Cook under 100 yards. Ole Miss’ receivers are as good as any set in the country, and so is Kelly at quarterback. No one outside Ole Miss sees that this weekend.
That’s why Alabama has opened up as a 10-point favorite in Oxford. That is insulting, and that’s what Ole Miss is playing with, a giant chip too big to fit on its shoulder.
It’s what made a really good team really dangerous in wins against the Crimson Tide the last two seasons.
Nobody saw that either.
