Ole Miss Halfway Through

Ole Miss has played the first six games of it’s twelve, coming out of it at 5-1. The first four games were to lower-tier competition and easy victories, but when Kentucky came to town with it’s stiff defense, the Rebels’ offense found itself stalling, and it added up to a loss. At South Carolina, the Rebels’ defense asserted itself. I like to watch the defensive line play, especially. It gets a push against the offense just about every single down. One commentator saw it as Ole Miss finding its identity in its defense, the sort of team that can win almost every game with three or four touchdowns.

The upcoming half of the schedule is all SEC opponents, and it seems that any team can beat any team this season. None of these games are going to be easy wins. It starts with LSU Saturday night, and this is going to be a big game. Both teams have one loss, so the loser in the contest will find itself on the outside looking in when it comes to getting a playoff pick. A lot of people talk about the atmosphere at Tiger Stadium at night, and I understand that, and also people talk about last year’s Ole Miss 55-49 victory providing the Tigers with revenge fuel. I don’t think it matters that much to Kiffin. I don’t see this LSU team posing much of a threat to Ole Miss, and I look for a Rebels victory, something along the lines of 42-14. That’s my prediction.

After that, Ole Miss gets Oklahoma at home, then Arkansas at Arkansas, then Georgia at home, then Florida at Florida, and then Mississippi State at home. The only sure victory on that list as of this writing is Mississippi State, which is terrible this season. It’s difficult to see how it might go against the rest of the opponents because Ole Miss’ offense hasn’t had a good game yet. It will. When the Rebels’ offense starts clicking, look out.