Football coaches can find good and bad things in any game film, no matter if it’s a win or a loss.
Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding and his staff certainly won’t have to dig deep to find the negatives from Saturday night’s 34-27 loss to Texas.
From mental errors to turnovers to penalties to lack of execution, Golding and his staff will have no shortage of talking points for film review Sunday.
And, yes, the sky may feel like its falling and the overreactions on social media and message boards (especially the “one game defines everything” crowd) have been severe. Seriously, everyone take a deep breath and calm down.
There was some stuff to like about what Ole Miss did against Texas.
Here are three things that did go right for the Rebels. Click here for three things that went wrong.
Pass rush continued to make an impact
Ole Miss didn’t sack Arch Manning a ton Saturday night, but the Rebels’ defensive front made its presence felt throughout the game.
The Rebels finished with two sacks, seven quarterback hurries and eight tackles for loss. Those numbers don’t tell the entire story of how disruptive the pass rush was, either.
Keaton Thomas led the team with three quarterback hurries, while Blake Purchase and Kam Franklin recorded the two sacks.
Purchase’s was particularly important. In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Ole Miss defensive end got to Manning and knocked the ball loose. Franklin recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, giving the Rebels their first points since the opening quarter and cutting Texas’ lead to 24-10.
The pressure also played a role in Jalyn Crawford’s second interception. Jamarious Brown hurried Manning into a deep throw that Crawford intercepted early in the fourth quarter.
After recording just one tackle for loss against Florida before the bye week, Ole Miss has now registered eight against Vanderbilt, five against Missouri and eight against Texas.
Offensive line held up in pass protection
Considering how much Trinidad Chambliss had to throw Saturday night, the Ole Miss offensive line deserves some credit. Especially since it was playing without starting left tackle Terez Davis.
The Rebels’ quarterback attempted a season-high 52 passes against a Texas defense that entered the game with 19 sacks through six games.
Yet Texas didn’t record a single defensive sack.
The official statistics charge Chambliss with one sack for an eight-yard loss, but that came on an intentional-grounding penalty in the second quarter, not from a Texas defender bringing him down.
The Longhorns were credited with five quarterback hurries, so it wasn’t a completely clean performance. Still, Chambliss generally had enough time to operate without constantly having to escape the pocket.
Defense created three turnovers
Ole Miss’ defense didn’t just wait around for Texas to make mistakes Saturday night. The Rebels actively created opportunities to change the game.
Crawford intercepted Manning twice, while Purchase forced the fumble that Franklin recovered for a touchdown.
Crawford’s first interception came in the opening quarter when Manning put a little too much air under a short pass intended for Emmett Mosley V. Crawford recognized the opportunity, jumped the route and secured the interception.
His second came in the fourth quarter, with Brown’s pressure forcing Manning into an ill-advised deep throw intended for Emaree Winston.
And, of course, Purchase’s strip-sack and Franklin’s recovery provided one of the biggest momentum swings of the night.
Ole Miss entered Saturday having forced seven turnovers in its first six games. Against Texas, it generated three more.
That’s an encouraging development for a defense that has shown improvement since the bye week.
