Damore’ea Stringellow falls back after catching a pass from Chad Kelly during the first half. (Photo by Cameron Brooks)
After the first half, it seemed like the Rebels offense wasn’t going to miss a beat from last year. The losses of Laremy Tunsil and Laquon Treadwell seemed minuscule as senior quarterback Chad Kelly usually had ample time to throw, and his receivers made some acrobatic grabs in route to the Rebels taking a 28-6 lead.
Something changed after the two teams went to the locker room for halftime. The Rebels wouldn’t gain a single yard of offense in the third quarter, netting -7 yards while Florida State’s offense clicked for the first time.
The Rebels’ offensive woes began and ended with turnovers, with the Rebels turning the ball over multiple times early in the second half and on their final offensive possession.
“That really shifted the momentum to their favor,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said. “And when you’re playing in a game against one of the nation’s best teams, you can’t turn the ball over like that.”
The turnovers were tough on the Ole Miss defense, who had minimal rest between series and were tasked with stopping an athletic Florida State offense with a short field.
“We turned the ball over first drive of the second half, and they’re already in the red zone, then a fumble, it’s just two things right there in the red zone, and they capitalized off of that, and the momentum swings like that,” Chad Kelly said.
“I know the one on the first half was not the correct read,” Freeze said of the first of Kelly’s three interceptions. “Then the one that went off Evan (Engram)’s hands, I’ll have to see that one on film to see if that was a timing issue or a route issue or a combination.”
Freeze said he would have to watch film to determine whether pressure caused the last interception or if the ball was simply under-thrown.
Kelly did a great job of avoiding pressure in the first half, but in the second half, the Seminoles did a great job of getting into the backfield and disrupting the passer.
They saw that we were throwing a lot, and they started really bringing it, whereas in the first half, in their mind they were thinking we were going to run it more, and we got a lot of good passes off,” Offensive Coordinator Dan Werner said.
The Rebels’ run game also stagnated in the second half, as the team ended with only 67 total rushing yards and was forced to pass often to try and conserve the clock after they fell behind.
“We wanted to stay balanced, and we just didn’t,” Freeze said. “Then, you know, we didn’t feel like we had an opportunity to run. That front is very, very talented, and that whole defense is. They returned so many kids, and they’re very talented. And once they got momentum and knew we were one‑dimensional, it makes for a difficult task.”
