Ole Miss just hasn’t been able to find its stride this season. Even after their first two losses to Florida State and Alabama, hopes were high for the Rebels, as at times during those games they looked like one of the top teams in the nation. However, the Rebels have been unable to fix the second-half struggles and defensive shortcomings that plagued the team early on, and on Saturday, they dropped to 3-5 after losing 40-29 to Auburn.
Head coach Hugh Freeze speaks during Monday’s press conference about last weeks lost to Auburn. (Photo by Ariel Cobbert)
“After meeting yesterday and watching the film, our kids competed and competed against what I think is one of the hotter and more talented football teams in the country right now,” Head Coach Hugh Freeze said. “You are right there, needed a couple of plays to go our way there at the end that didn’t which resulted in another loss. It continues to be an issue for us on defense, stopping the run and giving up explosive plays, and I have zero frustration in the effort of our kids. I do continue to have frustration over not being able to fix a recurring problem.”
Freeze will be trying another new rotation at linebacker this week after the defense allowed a running back to go for more than 200 yards for the second week in a row. Senior Rommel Mageo will be starting at the Mike linebacker position.
“He played in I think six snaps, and in all six he was sound in the right spot,” Freeze said.
Freeze said he wasn’t sure who would start at the Stinger position and fill out the rotation behind the starters.
“(DeMarquis) Gates had an MRI yesterday, and we will see how that comes back today on his knee,” Freeze said. “He definitely did not play well, was not mobile, did not move around very well and was not physical. It will be hard to say today sitting here that with his knee issue that he would be the guy that we would go to right now. It would be between Willie (Hibbler) and (Detric) Bing-Dukes at the Mike and Tayler (Polk) and Ray Ray (Smith) and Temario (Strong) at the Stinger.”
To make matters worse for Ole Miss, an already thin offensive line unit is now even more hampered by injuries after the Auburn game.
“This is one of those years where the injuries have just followed us around,” Freeze said. “Yesterday we didn’t have an offensive line for practice. Sean (Rawlings) is in a boot, and when he got hurt the other night it really hurt us in the tight red zone there on the third and fourth down because we had to call on (Robert) Conyers to try to get in there, and Conyers’ knee right now is tough for him to move it, and that really hurt us on those two plays there. Both of them are questionable. Daronte (Bouldin) had a hip pointer, and he wasn’t doing really well yesterday either. Rod Taylor did come out of his boot; we sure hope he can give it a go because we are going to need some bodies in the offensive line come Saturday.”
Freeze said he was going to try his best to fill the offensive line rotation without burning a redshirt, with Jacob Feeley and Talbot Buys listed as possibilities for Saturday.
For now, Freeze said the goal was to go 1-0 against Georgia Southern and focus on the rest of the schedule later.
“Traditionally, they have done extremely well when they are playing power five teams,” Freeze said. “They are a scary matchup because of all the athletic guys they have running that option offensively. Defensively, they can give up some yards, but they’ve done very well at being sound in the red zone, which is something— we’ve got to score touchdowns with the way we are playing defense right now. We need to get it in the end zone.”
Freeze said Georgia Southern is a worthy opponent.
“I am glad we are home again,” Freeze said. “I encourage our fans to continue to keep supporting these kids and to be extremely loud to make communications difficult on the opponent.”
