Adversity has hit Ole Miss in several doses this season. It has had damaging injuries on both sides of the football, causing the youth and inexperience it already possesses to glare even more.
The Rebels sit at 3-4 with an Auburn team coming to Oxford that rushed for more than 500 yards a week ago against Arkansas. The losses have piled up, and the pressure seems to mount more every week.
“Such as the life in the SEC West, and it doesn’t get any easier moving forward. Auburn is an outstanding football team, maybe the best defense as far as points per game that we’ve seen,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said. “Only giving up 14 points a game is unheard of almost these days. You watch them on tape, and you see why, and now their rushing game is back to what they’ve been known for.”
Ole Miss has certainly come out swinging this season. It has scored first in six of the seven games it has played. It has held three leads against the likes of Alabama and Florida State. The trouble for Ole Miss comes after its opponent finds its footing. When the other team gets rolling, the Rebels have had trouble responding. They seemingly got complacent and conservative when they have built up a lead.
Freeze tried to make sense of it all on Monday, using a baseball analogy.
“It’s disappointing, but when you look at the tapes of the teams we’ve played, it’s easy to see that you can lose those games,” Freeze said. “I’ll put it in baseball terms: we can’t afford it right now, with the issues that we may have at certain positions or talent level compared to others, we can’t afford to throw 75 mph on the corner of the plate and get by. We have to throw 96 mph on every single play to be able to compete and have a chance to win some of the games that we are in right now. “
Ole Miss gunned fastballs in the first two quarters in Orlando, against Alabama and even this past weekend when it jumped on LSU 10-0. But as its velocity slowed, the opponents teed off.
Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly and head coach Hugh Freeze talk before attempting a 2 point conversion during Ole Miss’ lost against LSU on Saturday night. Kelly said third quarter play is hurting Ole Miss and they need to execute the second half. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
“I think it just may be a mental makeup,” quarterback Chad Kelly said. “You’ve got to push through, especially in the second half when your legs start getting a little tired, and you’ve got to have that mental makeup to push through and finish a complete game. Sixty minutes is a long game.”
Kelly used last Sunday night’s NFL game as an example, pointing out that the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals played five full quarters that ended in an 6-6 tie.
“There are times where you really have to push through in hard times,” Kelly said. “It seems like now the third quarter is hurting us. We play a good first half, and we’ve just got to come out and work harder. It comes down to execution.”
This is a crucial weekend for Ole Miss, especially in terms of team psyche. How far will this slide go? Texas A&M still looms on the schedule, and a loss this weekend could really have the Rebels fighting for their bowl eligibility life.
One of Freeze’s best attributes as a coach is getting his teams to respond well to adversity and come out fighting. After all, they’ve come out fighting each game this year, but it is the response they’ve had trouble absorbing.
“Our coaches are disappointed, and that’s part of the life that we live in this conference,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to rebound and continue to work, and hopefully the leaders will lead, and we look forward to another challenge at home this Saturday.”
Practice notes
– Senior linebacker Terry Caldwell was not at practice on Tuesday. Caldwell was sent into the locker room at the end of Ole Miss’ loss after a sideline altercation.
-Evan Engram said there was a meeting organized by the players with the purpose of keeping the team together.
“We have guys speaking up from walk-ons to guys who play most of the game. That’s a beautiful part on this team, we have guys who hold each other accountable no matter what their role is. We’ve had players’ meetings before (but) today was by far the best one,” Engram said.
Engram said that he Chad Kelly and Marquis Haynes took turns speaking, and that other players also spoke.
“I think it helped us a lot” Engram said. “We’re a little crushed, we didn’t expect this, so as competitors it’s a little upsetting Today, we were way up. It was a little better.”
