Mississippi head coach Hugh Freeze high-fives fans before an NCAA college football game between LSU and Mississippi in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014. (Photo/Thomas Graning)
Many college football fans were surprised Tuesday when the first ever College Football Playoff rankings came out and Ole Miss was ranked number four. The ranking put the Auburn Tigers just above the Rebels at number three. Head coach Hugh Freeze talked to the media about the impending matchup between the new number three and four teams in the country and what the game meant to the team.
“We obviously have a great challenge ahead of us. I think this is definitely one of the top four or five teams in the nation just from what we’ve seen,” Freeze said. “It’ll be a good test for us to see how we respond to adversity, and I’m certain we’ll have some more Saturday.”
Another challenge for Ole Miss this season has been running the ball, as the Rebels rank 83rd in the nation in rushing yards per game.
“It’s difficult to run in this league. We’ve got some challenges that we have to continue to work on, and try to find out what the best way is to attack defenses to stay somewhat balanced so we’re not trying to throw it every down,” Freeze said. “We worked hard this week on coming up with a plan we think will give us a chance to run it some, and hopefully it’ll be successful.”
Freeze also talked about the progress of junior safety Chief Brown, who could be making his debut for the season after tearing his achilles during summer practice.
“With Cody (Prewitt) dinged up we moved him to (free safety) this week and he’s got a ton of reps and hopefully is in better physical shape to be able to play,” Freeze said. “I expect to see him play some Saturday, we’ll see how he responds but it’s a long season, my guess is we’ll need him before it’s over.”
Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Matt Luke talked about starting center Ben Still’s recovery from an MCL injury and if he could make an impact in the game despite missing practice.
“Fortunately he’s played a bunch of snaps for us this year, so I think mentally he’ll be OK without the practice reps,” Luke said. “I think he’ll know the plan and he’ll know what to do, so I feel comfortable with that.”
Luke talked about the impact Still would have if he is healthy enough to play Saturday.
“We’d love for him to be ready to go in case there was an issue somewhere else. We could play him and move (Robert) Conyers around a little bit,” Luke said. “With Robert being able to play tackle and center it was nice to be able to move him around some. With Ben being out, Conyers was at center, so it just gives me a little bit less flexibility from that standpoint. So it would be good to have Ben ready in case of emergency.”
Luke went on to talk about sophomore tackle Laremy Tunsil, who’s battling a bicep injury.
“He’s practiced, so that’s been good and been encouraging. He’s wearing a shoulder harness,” Luke said. “I’ve been encouraged that he hasn’t missed a day. I’m sure it’ll bother him a little bit but he’s excited and ready to go. “
