Let’s not mince words here.
Saturday’s loss at Florida was bad in every sense of the word. The Rebels were manhandled up front by Florida’s defensive line, which led to the inability to establish a running game as well as not giving Chad Kelly time to throw downfield.
The defense was on the field for too long, partly because of the offense’s inability to move the ball and partly on their own merit, allowing Florida to go 8-for-16 on third down conversions.
These deficiencies coupled with allowing four turnovers on the road in the Southeastern Conference is a recipe for getting beaten and in Ole Miss’s case, getting beaten handily.
That being said and the ugly loss behind them, it is not time to abandon ship.
Have they appeared out of sync in the last two weeks? Yes.
Is it grounds for significant concern? Probably.
Is it time to rule them out? Absolutely not, and there are several reasons why.
This team is injured, specifically on the offensive line. Ole Miss was without Justin Bell, and Rod Taylor and Robert Conyers played through nagging injuries. With Laremy Tunsil out due to an NCAA investigation, the Rebel offensive line was playing with three freshmen at certain points in the game. The offensive line will continue to get healthy as the weeks progress, which will be paramount to their success going forward. Though it is not guaranteed, Ole Miss will likely get Tunsil back at some point this season, which will also be a huge help. It often goes unnoticed, but the Rebels having a healthy offensive line may be the deciding factor in this team’s success this year.
As I alluded to earlier, you aren’t going to beat anyone in this league when committing four turnovers in a game. This was evident in Ole Miss’ win over Alabama, a game in which the Tide had five turnovers and played from behind all night. Ole Miss committed just three turnovers with Kelly on the field in the previous four games. To me, the four turnovers on Saturday seemed a bit uncharacteristic of an offense that has been potent for the majority of this year.
Lastly, Ole Miss still controls its own destiny. The Rebels sit one game behind LSU and Texas A&M for first in the SEC West and both of those teams have to come play in Oxford later this season. With the loss coming to a team in the SEC East, Ole Miss also did not hurt themselves against any team in the West with regards to a potential tie-breaker that could come into play later this year.
There is no doubt this team appears to have lost its way in the last couple of weeks, but, fortunately, they will be given two more weeks to find it (I say that cautiously) with two non-conference games against New Mexico State and Memphis looming. Keep in mind this is the same team that held a three-score lead in the fourth quarter in Bryant-Denny Stadium less than a month ago.
The ability is unquestionably there. It’s just a matter of getting back in rhythm in all aspects.
Now is not the time to jump overboard. It’s a time to right the ship, get healthy and get back on track.
For Ole Miss, everything to play for is still out in front of them. They still control their own destiny and it’s now a matter of defining it.
