It was another eventful week in the world of college football. The Ole Miss Rebels were off this week and had a chance to rest up for a tough road test against Arkansas. They also got to sit back and watch to see how their SEC west and playoff chances played out.
It was a very successful bye week for the Rebels in regards to their SEC West chances. Alabama handled Mississippi State at home, and Georgia, to the surprise of many, completely dominated Auburn at home keeping the Rebels very much alive in the SEC West race.
With that being said, the Rebels have a very tough road test ahead of them.
On Saturday, Ole Miss will travel to Fayetteville to take on a talented Arkansas team coming off of its first SEC victory since October of 2012. Arkansas dominated LSU defensively en route to a 17-0 shutout win over then 17th-ranked LSU.
Arkansas has one of the most efficient and physical rushing attacks in the country and will give the Rebels all they can handle on the ground. Sophomore running back Alex Collins and junior Jonathan Williams form a two headed beast coming out of the backfield for the Razorbacks. The two backs have scored 11 touchdowns each. Williams has rushed for 932 yards on 155 carries while Collins has racked up 886 yards on 150 carries. These two talented backs share an equal work load and can cause massive problems for opposing defenses.
It became evident during the LSU game that the Rebels do not match up well with teams that line up and run the ball straight at the defense between the tackles.
LSU racked up 265 yards on the ground against Ole Miss. That statistic will definitely need to improve in order for the Rebels to win on Saturday. Turnovers during crucial possessions have plagued Ole Miss in their two losses, and the Rebels will need to have one of their best games execution wise in order to get a road win.
With the majority of the hype being put on the Egg Bowl in two weeks, the matchup against Arkansas appears to be a textbook trap game for the Rebels.
All the talk and scenarios of what lies ahead for this team in the future will be meaningless with a loss on Saturday. Arkansas sits at 5-5 and is fighting to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2011.
It will be senior day on Saturday in Fayetteville, and the Razorbacks would love nothing more than to become bowl eligible in their final home game of the 2014 season. This game will require the Rebels full attention if they wish to keep their SEC and National Title hopes alive.
As far as the Rebels SEC West and playoff chances go the Rebels are still very much alive.
There is still a lot of football left, and many of the teams ranked in front of the Rebels have tough match ups left. The Rebels will likely land at No. 8 in the latest playoff poll, needing a couple of teams such as Ohio State, TCU and Baylor among others to fall in the last couple of weeks.
As far as the West is matters, it now comes down to the Rebels winning out, and Auburn needing to beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl at Bryant Denny Stadium.
If the last weeks college football has taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen each week.
Auburn appears to be struggling, especially on the defensive side of the football after the results over the last two weeks.
I will say this, if Nick Saban has had any sort of bad dream in the last couple of years, I feel pretty confident in saying that Guz Malzahn was involved in that nightmare. Of course, everyone remembers the famous Chris Davis 109-yard field goal return that resulted in Auburn winning the Iron Bowl and the SEC west in one of the craziest finishes in college football history.
It goes further than that though.
Gus Malzahn is one of the brightest offensive minds in college football and has given Alabama all sorts of problems. Whether it was Cam Newton in 2010 or Nick Marshall last year, Malzahn’s offense has given the Alabama defense fits when they have a dual threat quarterback. It will be a tall task for Auburn to pull off the big upset on the road against their biggest rival, but they are more than capable of pulling off the upset.
There is a lot to play out in the college football season that is outside of Ole Miss’ control. What they can control is winning their final two games, beginning with a very tough road test and potential trap game this weekend.
I encourage Rebel nation to support this team in it’s most crucial part of the journey.
