Ole Miss 27 South Carolina 3

Ole Miss defeated South Carolina 27-3 at Columbia. The Rebels were opportunistic and converted South Carolina mistakes into touchdowns. The Rebels’ defense held the Gamecocks to a mere field goal. I did not see an obvious flop in this game, but plenty of players went down. At this point, I just want to look at it as a style of play. It gives you a mini-timeout, and in this game, Ole Miss really controlled the game from start to finish and just kind of ground down South Carolina. Most of the mistakes from last week’s loss to Kentucky were corrected. Ole Miss managed the clock. Robert Parrish ran well, supplemented by carries by Matt Jones. I don’t think Bently played a down. Jaxson Dart was 14 for 27 and 285 yards. He missed several deep balls, but he’s quite good with his short passes. Star receiver Tre Harris left the game in the second quarter and never returned. If Ole Miss hits another couple of those deep balls with some regularity, it is going to be a dangerous team with its defense. I watched defensive line play pretty closely, and they were pushing the Gamecocks around all game.

Vanderbilt defeated Alabama 40-35 at Nashville. Huge upset. Bama was ranked #1. That makes Ole Miss’ loss to Kentucky look a lot better than it did yesterday. I think only Tennessee and Texas are still undefeated. Texas A&M blistered Mizzou, and that makes the Aggies a team to watch. The Vols are facing off against the pigs as I write this. Update: The Vols went down to the pigs I think 17-14. The only undefeated team is Texas, and I’m not sold on Texas at all. I think it will lose one or two games. I think Texas A&M is dangerous. It played under its ability the last several years, and with the new coach, it is easy to see A&M as a break-out team. It somehow feels like some shifting around is possible in the SEC this year. Everybody wants to see the Tide go down, and Georgia needs to go down, too.

The Vanderbilt victory over Alabama was stellar, and let me emphasize, Vandy just beat Bama. No flukes or tricks, just good football. The Commodores controlled the football, fell on fumbles, and they stuck their tackles. Really good football. Bama, by contrast, sort of looked willy nilly out there. Honestly, quarterback Milroe isn’t terrible, but he isn’t good. He isn’t the complete package, one glaring weakness being his peripheral vision. Dude got completely flattened by a Vandy defender and he coughed up the football, leading to a Vandy touchdown drive.

Here’s to Ole Miss putting together a complete game in Baton Rouge next Saturday.

Hotty Toddy!