Ole Miss walked out of Saturday with a 52-17 win over Vanderbilt, but the score didn’t erase every rough patch.
The Rebels handled the matchup the way a better team should, yet a few moments stood out as reminders that the margin for error shrinks against the opponents waiting on the schedule.
A sluggish start to the second half, too many penalties and a couple of injury concerns all surfaced in a game that otherwise stayed firmly in Ole Miss’ control.
Here’s what went wrong for Ole Miss against Vanderbilt.
Start of the second half
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding’s halftime television interview was exactly what you expected.
When asked about how he thought his team had played in the first half against the Commodores, Golding had a simple answer.
“I’ve seen a first half. We’ve had a first half before. It’s about putting it together for four quarters, which we haven’t seen all year,” he said.
What Golding wanted to see was the level of play from the first half continue into the second half. He didn’t get to see that.
Vanderbilt started the second half with possession and marched 75 yards downfield in 12 plays and lasted more than seven minutes. And it wasn’t as if the Rebels were much of a speedbump on the drive. It was the best looking drive the Commodores had the entire game.
Offensively, Ole Miss came out flat and ended its first possession with an interception.
If the Rebels didn’t have a 32-point lead at that point, it could’ve been the start of something much different. In the end, it didn’t matter as Vanderbilt never mounted a real threat.
But with games against Missouri, Texas and Georgia on the horizon, coming out of halftime flat might not end the same way.
Penalties
Ole Miss and Vanderbilt each had 11 penalties, but Vanderbilt was penalized for 22 more yards.
The 35-point win made those penalties easier to overlook, but they weren’t entirely harmless. On Saturday, the Rebels were simply the better team and overcame a lot of them. That may not happen against better teams than Vanderbilt.
Take for instance the holding penalty on Caleb Cunningham on Ole Miss’ second touchdown possession. It negated a big Deuce Alexander rushing play.
Against Vanderbilt, a defensive pass interference two plays later gave Kewan Lacy and easy, walk-in touchdown.
Does Georgia commit that same pass interference? Does Texas? For comparison’s sake, No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama had a combined 12 penalties in their Saturday night tilt.
Maybe. Maybe not. The point is 11 penalties is something you can get away with against Vanderbilt, but not others.
Injuries
Ole Miss had two notable players leave with injuries, defensive backs Andy Jaffe and Edwin Joseph, against Vanderbilt.
Golding didn’t have any updates on their status in his post-game press conference, so we’ll have to wait until Monday to learn more about their statuses.
Jaffe is in the defensive back rotation and is on multiple special teams units. Joseph is a starter and was credited with a pass breakup against Vanderbilt.
The secondary hasn’t been the biggest strength for Ole Miss this season and has already dealt with a rash of injuries. Adding two more to the list doesn’t help matters.
