The defensive miscues shown by Ole Miss against Louisville are getting most of the attention and rightfully so. But it wasn’t all bad for the Rebels’ defense.
There were times when it looked like it would live up to the comparisons being made with the elite 2024 defense. Like when Jeheim Oatis pushed a Louisville lineman straight back, forcing Issac Brown to run into his teammate and fall down to the ground.
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It was a dominant display and not one we’ve seen much before. That includes at least one player who was on the field for the play.
“That was crazy. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a college play like that, especially in person,” defensive end Kam Franklin said. “It was a really good play.”
Ole Miss could’ve used more plays like that. Most reading this space know what happened. The Rebels’ offense found its groove and the defense gave up big play after big play that kept Louisville in the game. At one point, the Cardinals mounted a 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
There’s no shortage of blame to go around, either. Even if it was the secondary making the glaring mistakes, Franklin said the defensive line could’ve played better too.
“I feel like the effort was there,” franklin said at Tuesday’s media availability. “From an execution standpoint, I feel like it could have been a lot better, but it was Week 1 and there are a lot of things to clean up. That’s the beauty of it. We still have things we need to work on and improve this week.”
For his part, Franklin had a good game. No. 5 was frequently in the Cardinals’ backfield or near the ball carrier until he got banged up later in the game. He finished the game with four total tackles, three of which were solo, a pair of tackles for a loss and one sack.
“I think I had a pretty decent game to start the season,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of stuff to clean up, schematically and technique-wise, and a lot of things that Pete (Golding) and Coach (Randall) Joyner have critiqued, so there’s definitely room to improve.”
Golding provided a teamwide injury report and said nobody suffered anything serious, including Franklin. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive end confirmed that, too.
“I’m good. I just got a little banged up in the knee, but I’ll be back. I’m good,” he said.
That’s good news because if this Ole Miss defense is going to validate some of those preseason comparisons to one of the best defenses Ole Miss has ever had, the Rebels will need Franklin at his best.
