Saturday’s loss to Arkansas marked the third game in a row the Rebels have dropped to the Razorbacks. While Ole Miss still put up 30 points, the Rebel offense had some surprising mistakes in the game, struggling with turnovers after improving in that area in the two previous game and struggling on some key conversions.
“We made way too many mistakes,” Offensive coordinator Dan Werner said. “We didn’t play like the normal Rebel offense.”
“We had a few bad throws, we had some drops, we had some poor calls, we probably should’ve stuck to the running game a little more,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said.
The Rebel receiving corps have been one of the bright spots of the Ole Miss team this year, but against Arkansas they struggled, dropping several passes from senior quarterback Chad Kelly. Freeze said the drops were quite surprising.
Ole Miss wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo runs downfield after a pass from quarterback Chad Kelly in Saturday’s game against Arkansas.
“Uncharacteristic, critical drops changed the last two possessions,” Freeze said. “Those were critical and really hurt and that’s something we haven’t done a lot of this year.”
Kelly was quick to shift the blame off of his receivers and look ahead to the improvements they could make in the passing game.
“I have to put it in the right spot, regardless of whether it hits their hands or not, I have to put them in a good position to catch the ball,” Kelly said. “Losing hurts and all of those guys are hurting right now, we just have to come back and get on the same page and just build some momentum on the offensive side of the ball.”
Werner was quick to point out the drops weren’t the only thing impeding the Rebels’ offensive possessions.
“It wasn’t just the drops, it was a lot of issues that we had throughout the night,” Werner said. “We’d move the ball then find a way to stop the drive ourselves.”
Kelly didn’t play up to his usual standards, turning the ball over on critical drives twice, but he still managed to throw for 253 yards and a touchdown on 18 of 39 passing. Kelly did manage to run the ball very effectively, rushing 14 times for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
“(Kelly) had some good moments for sure, but he had some that he would like to have over I’m sure,” Freeze said. “A little off on a couple of throws that I think give you first downs, and he was under some pressure at times but he did some really nice things too. No doubt he competed, I thought he had a chance to get that first there at the end, and that may have been a big jump start for us we had plenty of time to go score.”
Ole Miss had some mental errors and miscommunications that slowed their drives as well.
“There were a couple of miscommunications, but me being the quarterback I have to own up today, and I have to get everybody on the same page,” Kelly said. “So come back to work tomorrow, get ready for another tough opponent in LSU and get ready to work and get better.”
