Ole Miss coach Pete Golding had his turn Monday. On Tuesday, it was Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea’s turn to preview Saturday’s upcoming game in Nashville.
The Rebels will head north to face Vanderbilt, who is off to its first 0-2 start in SEC play in three seasons, for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN. The Commodores’ head coach spoke for nearly 30 minutes about his team, but also talked a little bit about Ole Miss.
Here’s everything Lea said about Ole Miss at his Tuesday press conference.
Clark Lea, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening statement…
Lea: Obviously, Ole Miss presents challenges just like every team we’ll face. This is a skilled group and a physical group. I have a lot of respect for the program, and yet again, this is going to come down to the brand of football we play, the style we play and playing together.
On the challenge of containing Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss’ other offensive weapons…
Lea: This is the challenge. This is the tough part about that offense. Trinidad Chambliss is, as advertised, a dynamic player. He’s got the arm strength and makes quick decisions. Some of the throws he makes are incredible. It’s a credit to him and to putting him in a good position. He is supported by a really strong offensive line and also a talented running back in Lacy. I think those guys will be as good of a backfield tandem as we’ve faced. Certainly, they’ll present challenges with the tempo, too. Obviously, then you have Deuce Alexander on the perimeter. He’s not the only one, but he’s the guy who stands out as a really trusted target and a serious vertical threat. What you want to do is defend the backfield with structure and leverage. Keep the cage on the quarterback. He’s going to get his plays, but we have to make sure the big plays don’t go for touchdowns. Defend the run game with leverage at ball level. We say build the run wall inside-out and outside-in. What makes that hard is they’re going at hyper speed. They have ways to stretch you horizontally and puncture you vertically. We cannot let either Chambliss or Lacy circle the defense. Their ability to start on a vertical cut, stop and then get around the edge creates a lot of space for them to make big plays. That has to be defended by all 11 positions. With Deuce Alexander, you’re going to talk about one-on-ones. Do we have awareness of the route tree and what he’s going to like against certain coverages? There are going to be times where we have to depend on our player to make a play against him. That’s part of the deal. These guys are good and talented. I’m going to trust our defense to have a great plan, execute Saturday and do a good job limiting them.
On preventing explosive pass plays in the secondary…
Lea: Thinking back through the double moves, this will be something we see Saturday. In situations where we have double moves, where are our eyes? Where’s the break point? The challenge here is when you break on a slant, let’s say, and you break in front of the route, you’re not allowed contact as the route then breaks vertically. What happens is you’re breaking in front of the route, he puts his foot in the ground and gets vertical, and now you have to change direction and chase it down. This happened to us against NC State, and it feels like the route is just wide open because you were running this way and he was running that way. We have to put ourselves in a position, in terms of body position, to actually break into the route and then contact the double move. It’s a part of our game where we can collision down the field, and that’s how you become effective. We had a double move Saturday with Caden Daniels and ended up getting a holding penalty on it. Same thing. We break on the initial cut through the body of the receiver. Take your eyes to the receiver. Don’t leave your eyes on the quarterback. That way, when he puts his foot in the ground, you can collision with your body, and now you’re in dominant position. That’ll be something that comes up Saturday. Those are technical things. Obviously, it’s one thing just to have speed. It’s another thing in those moments to make sure you’re in control and your targets are right. You’re forcing that double move to work through the body contact of the defender.
On using ball control and third-down efficiency against Ole Miss…
Lea: First of all, the best defense to that offense is them not being on the field. That’s where we need to work all three phases together. Finish drives with kicks. We don’t need to give them extra possessions by turning the ball over. Then also take advantage of explosive moments when they present themselves. This isn’t about three yards and a cloud of dust. We need to run offense. We need to convert before conversion downs and be really good on third and fourth down to sustain drives. I think statistically we’re one of the better teams in the country on fourth-down conversions. I see that both as a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing in that we’re getting to the point where we’re able to go for it on fourth down and we have the plays and players to convert. It’s a bad thing in that you’re living very dangerously in those moments. That goes back to third-down conversion. Third-down avoidance is one of the foundational elements of effective offense. The more you can operate in rhythm on first and second down, the more pressure you put on the defense, the more explosive you’re going to be and the fewer turnovers you’re going to have. Third down is a high-leverage down. Fourth down is a high-leverage down. Avoiding third down becomes an important part of the formula.
