A week after Ole Miss’ worst offensive performance of the season, the Rebels rebounded with 52 points and 665 total yards in a 52-3 win over New Mexico State.
After lackluster performances over the past two weeks, junior quarterback Chad Kelly had a better performance with 384 passing yards and three touchdowns to just one interception. Kelly also added 32 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.
Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze described Kelly’s day as solid but saw room for improvement.
“(We had) too many decisions that could have resulted in negative plays,” Freeze said of Kelly’s performance. “A couple of them were my fault. I forget sometimes that this is his first year in our system.”
Freeze said he has to be careful and stop putting Kelly in bad positions.
“I want to call something that we haven’t worked all week,” Freeze said. “I did that a couple of times too. Those typically don’t work out real well. I’ve got to quit putting him in those positions.”
Kelly said the difference between last week and this week was turnovers and execution.
“That’s all it comes down to: not turning the ball and executing every single play,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he believes the whole offense played well Saturday.
“We put up 50 points. Wide receivers did a great job executing, and the offensive line did a great job of blocking,” Kelly said. “The running backs did what they had to do. Everybody just had a great game.”
The Rebels were without the services of three starting offensive linemen— junior Laremy Tunsil, junior Robert Conyers and senior Justin Bell— but were able to rush for 265 yards and average 7.8 yards per carry.
The Rebels were able to play a plethora of offensive linemen in the game and gain experience for men who had not played much during the year.
“Just wanted to get all of them reps,” Freeze said. “We’re going to need them all.”
Freeze said that sophomore Rod Taylor’s injured shoulder is getting better every week.
Junior wide receiver Laquon Treadwell led the receiving group with eight catches, 136 yards and two touchdowns, including an acrobatic one-handed catch for a touchdown.
With senior running back Jaylen Walton absent from the game due to an ankle injury, the Rebels’ rushing attack was a three-headed monster led by sophomore Eugene Brazley, who had six carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. Akeem Judd saw extended action for the first time this season and accumulated 76 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown.
Freeze said that he thought Judd played well and did a good job of running behind his shoulder pads.
“I thought Akeem ran the ball hard too,” Freeze said. “He finished with his pads going forward.”
The Rebels will next travel to Memphis to play the Tigers in an 11 a.m. kickoff next Saturday, a place with which Hugh Freeze is very familiar.
“I have nothing but good feelings of the people of Memphis,” Freeze said. “Those people were very good to me for 13 years. I respect the job that Justin (Fuente) has done there and what a good football team they have.”
