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Ole Miss has no idea what Ole Miss is.
The Rebels are ranked No. 19 in the country, a forgettable second half against No. 4 Florida State away from likely being in the top five for Saturday’s matchup against No. 1 Alabama.
“I think the first half of Florida State, we looked like one of the nation’s top 10 teams and the second half not so much,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “It is hard to tell about last week. I felt like we took care of business offensively, did what we needed to do defensively on a short week to win. We played a lot of kids. With the schedule set up and the way we performed in the first week, it is kind of hard to tell exactly who we are yet.”
The Rebels gave up 33 straight points in a second-half collapse against the Seminoles, then played Wofford in a short week of prep.
That combined with losing its only real cover cornerback Ken Webster and No. 2 back Eric Swinney leaves Ole Miss in somewhat of an identity crisis, but more so on the defensive side.
Offensively, the Rebels are a passing team. Chad Kelly is a risk-taker who wins more bets than he loses, and he has some of the best receivers in the country. Meanwhile, Akeem Judd and the rest of the backfield have lots to prove if the team wants to pull itself from near the bottom of the SEC in rushing at 120.5 yards per game.
Defensively, Huskie Tony Conner looked somewhat back to normal against Wofford but looked rusty against Florida State a season after a torn meniscus took him out of a potential early spot in the NFL Draft. The Rebels have been mediocre in stopping the run, 12th in the SEC as they’ve allowed 197 yards per game.
Alabama has no identity crisis. While it has room for improvement, the Tide has been ranked No. 1 since the polls came out and has done nothing to make anyone doubt the preseason hype.
“We believe that we can play with anyone in the country. That doesn’t mean we can beat them on any given day, but we do believe we have gotten to a point where we can step on a field and compete with them,” Freeze said. “You know, you get a few breaks that go your way and find a way to win one, and we have done that a couple of times. Confidence does come from that, and our kids will be confident Saturday. It is still a tall task.”
Ole Miss has back-to-back wins against Nick Saban. The last time he lost three straight games to one team was Purdue. Kelly was 5 years old at the time (1997-99). The confidence from those consecutive victories is going to have to carry the Rebels into this one. You know what Alabama is. Ole Miss is on a journey to field the same type of talent. Early injuries have showed that journey is still underway.
After this one is over, the Rebels will have a much better understanding of who they are.
