AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 25 Ole Miss Rebels weren’t intimidated by the third-largest crowd in Texas school history Saturday night and went into Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and dominated the second half to walk out with a 44-23 win over the Longhorns.
“I’m just really proud of our group of guys in that locker room,” Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said. “Players and coaches, managers, administration. To represent our university on a stage like this is a blessing to us. We just feel great about the opportunity to come into this kind of arena as a young program with young kids and fight for 60 minutes and see what the scoreboard says. That’s what our kids did tonight.”
Click here to see a photogallery from the game.
Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC) jumped out to an early 14-0 lead behind a five-yard touchdown run by senior running back Jeff Scott and a touchdown pass from junior quarterback Bo Wallace to junior wide receiver Donte Moncrief from 18 yards out.
Texas would go on to score 23 unanswered points spanning from late in the first quarter all the way to the near end of the second quarter. However, senior kicker Andrew Ritter made a 52-yard field goal as time in the first half expired to pull the Rebels within striking distance at 23-17.
At the half, the Rebel defense had given up 220 total yards, 116 on the ground and 104 in the air, but a completely different team emerged from the locker room to start the second half.
“I think our coaches made the adjustments,” Freeze said of the halftime break. “I think Paul Jackson and his staff, our kids get stronger as the game goes on. We preach it every day in our program, you just don’t blink. You just have to play the next play. Our staff is confident in them. We don’t come in yelling, we just come in and say you’ve got to play 60 minutes and see what happens.”
Ole Miss came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter, scoring 20 points while shutting out the Longhorns.
First, Wallace scampered into the end zone from 15 yards out to give the Rebels the lead for the first time since the first quarter. Then, Wallace showed his passing skills and found freshman tight end Evan Engram from 17 yards out to push the Rebel lead to 31-23. Lastly, Scott returned a Texas punt 73 yards for a touchdown.
The shutout of Texas in the second half continued in the fourth, and Ole Miss would add one more touchdown from sophomore running back Jaylen Walton on an eight-yard run to cap the 44-23 victory. Defensively, the Rebels were able to hold the Longhorns to just 100 total yards of offense in the second half.
“We stopped the run. We actually came in and just made one change and tried to stay with them,” Freeze said. “They were hitting the zone on us and bouncing it out the back and we were able to pursue a little bit so we started bringing a guy down weak side away from the backs and lineman. We stopped the zone play and made them give us third-and-longs, and they’re uncomfortable with that, just like anybody is, and we got a little rush on them then.
“The other thing, believe it or not, we just said, ‘Hey, look, I know we’re young, but let’s go out and play our base defense and see if our kids can compete. Just line up and play base with the exception of the zone adjustment,’ and they did.”
Offensively for Ole Miss, Scott paved the way on the ground, rushing for a career-high 164 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown. In the air Wallace finished 17-for-25 for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman wideout Laquon Treadwell was the Rebels’ leading receiver with five catches for 45 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker Serderius Bryant once again led the way for Ole Miss. In his second game, after replacing the injured Denzel Nkemdiche, Bryant recorded 11 tackles, including one sack and three tackles for a loss.
The Rebels are off next weekend before facing the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide on the road on Sept. 28.
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