Hugh Freeze tried to warn Ole Miss fans.
The Rebels don’t have the needed depth to compete at the top of the Southeastern Conference, and, for the first time all season, the depth issues cost Ole Miss, as they lost at Auburn this past weekend, 30-22.
“We’re playing in a very difficult league with a difficult schedule, and, unfortunately, people want to create expectations in a short amount of time in our society,” Freeze said. “That’s not just in football. They want return. They want it now.
Head coach Hugh Freeze and players prepare to take the field before the Auburn game last Saturday.
Photo by Thomas Graning | The Daily Mississippian
“We want to win every one of them, but we want to continue to walk in victory daily in our mindset. When you have a negative mindset that creeps in because you’ve lost a few games in the early stages of a building process, it’s frustrating that your kids have to hear that.”
It was a game Ole Miss should have won. No one denies that, but it isn’t a season-ending loss. Far from it, actually.
When Freeze took over at Ole Miss, no one would have expected to be upset about two road losses at Alabama and Auburn. Fast forward to today, and that’s exactly what has happened.
Give credit to Freeze.
In one season, he made the Ole Miss fan base believe they were ready to take it to the next level. But teams don’t go from the bottom to the top of the SEC without a few bumps in the road. The Rebels’ first bump came Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
But despite the loss, Ole Miss is still well on its way to improving from its first year under Freeze. Yes, it could get a little iffy the next two weeks if the Rebels can’t get a win over Texas A&M or LSU, but the last five games should see Ole Miss as the favored team.
What will their mindset be if they do lose four consecutive games? That’s hard to say. But I’m not willing to bet against Freeze, not at this point. He’s had his team ready to play each week, and I don’t think a few losses will change that.
So Ole Miss — sitting at 3-2 — still has a very good chance to improve on its 6-6 regular-season record from last year. The depth could catch up to them again, and although they’re much better depth-wise then they were a year ago, Freeze is right. They are still a couple recruiting classes away from being where they need to be.
When that time comes, fans can expect results and be angry if they don’t get them. But that time isn’t now. Freeze has coached 18 games for Ole Miss. That’s not enough to start jumping off the deep end after a loss.
“Anyone who looks at where we were with the depth issues that we had, should know one class or one-and-a-half classes — we had about three weeks that first class — is not going to get us to exactly where we want to get,” Freeze said. “But it’s in the right direction.”
Like I said, the Rebels should’ve won Saturday night. That issue is not in question. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the season should be written off.
Freeze and Ole Miss have not performed particularly well when results are expected, but when their backs are against the wall, they’ve surprised people. Now, with Texas A&M coming into town, they get a chance to do just that.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss football, follow @DavidLCollier and @thedm_sports on Twitter.
