An Ole Miss player douses Coach Hugh Freeze with water in celebration after the Chick-fil-A Kick Off game in Atlanta Thursday. (Photo by Cady Herring)
ATLANTA – It wasn’t pretty, but the Rebels found a way late as they score four touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pick up their first win of the season against Boise State 35-13.
“Real proud of our defense and special teams. I thought they really came to play and played with great passion and energy. Offensively, we were totally out of sync the entire first half,” Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said. “We’ve got a lot to get cleaned up, but at the end of the day, we beat a god football team tonight, and we’re excited to be going back 1-0.”
For the first three quarters, it was a sloppy game to say the least, as there were six turnovers total, all of them interceptions and three for each quarterback. Bo Wallace threw a 30-yard strike to junior Cody Core to take the early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Boise State would follow up with field goals in the second and third quarters to cut the Rebels lead to 7-6.
“It was awful, hard to watch for two and a half quarters, and then got in a decent rhythm there the last part of the game, found a way to score enough points to win,” Freeze said. “We never could get in sync because we were behind the chains the whole time.”
Wallace had three interceptions in the first half alone, but recovered and threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Wallace hit sophomore Laquon Treadwell for the 14-yard touchdown to make the Ole Miss lead 14-6. Wallace would follow up with two more touchdown passes to sophomore Quincy Adeboyejo and Core, his second touchdown reception of the game.
“We just got in a rhythm. The short passes got me in a rhythm. Not trying to do too much,” Wallace said on the fourth quarter. “I think the first half I was trying to do too much. I was trying to do things in the first half that I shouldn’t have done. We got it together in the second half and had a good one.”
Wallace finished the game 25-36 passing for 387 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.
Treadwell, who finished with seven catches for 105 yards and one touchdown, highlighted the receiving core along with Core, who finished with four catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns.
“Cody (Core) has been working hard this whole camp,” Treadwell said. “He is poised to have a breakout year, him and Quincy (Adeboyejo). I think it showed tonight and I think we’ll see that the rest of the season.
Sophomore running back Mark Dodson scored a 19-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to seal the 35-13 victory.
The bright spot of the game was the Ole Miss defense, holding a good Boise State offense to just 13 points and forcing four turnovers. The secondary headlined by senior Cody Prewitt, junior Mike Hilton, senior Senquez Golson and sophomore Tony Conner seemed to be everywhere on the field, flying to the ball wherever it went.
“We know what we’re capable of. Our coaches know what we’re capable of,” Prewitt said. “Despite what we think of ourselves we have to come out and execute and for the most part we executed really well.”
The offense struggled for most of the game. The defense was forced to keep the Rebels alive in the ball game and they did just that.
“From the very first touchdown when we went up by seven, we knew that the rest of the game was on us,” Prewitt said. “As soon as we score, as long as we keep them from scoring, we win the game. We just had to play every play like it was the only play.”
The Broncos had their fair share of scoring chances, as they ran seven plays inside the Rebel 5-yard line. The defense locked in and made big goal-line stands to force two early field goals from Boise State.
Even if it is just one stellar game, there is plenty of work to improve on when it comes to the defense.
“We have a lot of stuff to work on. Execution, filling up the running lanes better and having more of a pass rush,” sophomore defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche said. “There is always room for improvement. We’ll go back, watch the film, get critiqued and go back to practice and get ready for Vanderbilt.”
The Ole Miss defense was fun to watch for the whole game, but the offense didn’t find their rhythm until the fourth quarter, where everything seemed to click.
“It was a tale of two halves obviously with everything that happened in the first half,” offensive coordinator Dan Werner said. “I came in and talked to the guys at the half and said there is now way we can play any worse than how we just played and we’re still ahead. We came out and just played how we were supposed to in the second half and we were fine.”
The game was sloppy to start, but the way the Rebels finished brings some hope to Rebel nation that this team can bounce back from anything.
It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.
Dylan Rubino
thedmsports@gmail.com
