By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
The Ole Miss Rebels enter the game week as the 2021 season will get underway as they take on the Louisville Cardinals in the Mercedes Benz Stadium on Monday night. The kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Ole Miss is entering its second season under head coach Lane Kiffin at the helm. Last season, the Rebels capped off a 10-game SEC-only slate win a 26-20 Outback Bowl win to finish with an overall 5-5 record.
This week, Kiffin and his staff still have a lot of work to do before the game as trying to “get guys back health-wise which is normal from camp,” he said.
Over the weekend, the Rebels went through a mock game in perpetration for what the first game will be like.
“We played good and got a lot of players in there,” Kiffin said. “It helped substitutions for special teams and headsets.”
The game against Louisville is a little bit different for the team with it being on Labor Day it has kind of made the schedule have to adjust for the mock game. The Rebels practice during the mornings and had to find a good time to hold it.
“We played a game that is on Monday, that is normally scheduled for Saturday’s on Sunday,” Kiffin said.
Louisville’s offense is coming off a 2020 season in which they averaged 29.55 points per game. The Cardinals have a balanced style of attack with the run and the pass.
“In the last two years there are only four or five teams that average over 200 yards on the ground and in the air,” Kiffin said. “They are one of them.”
At quarterback, Louisville has Malik Cunningham who’s thrown for 5,153 yards in his career with 43 touchdowns. Last season, he set a new passing career-high with 2, 615 yards that surpassed his best in 2019 by 550 yards.
“(Cunningham) can make a lot of plays with his arm and feet along with a veteran offensive line,” Kiffin said.
