Losing by 24 can do strange things to a football team.
It didn’t seem to bother Ole Miss much.
The Rebels thumped Vanderbilt 52-17 Saturday at FirstBank Stadium. The defense that got pushed around by Florida two weeks ago looked like a different group.
Suntarine Perkins was in the middle of most of it.
The junior grabbed a loose ball and ran it 5 yards for a touchdown. It was the first time he’d scored in college.
“It just kind of brought back memories of me in high school, running the ball, running back,” Perkins said. “During that moment, I picked the ball up, kind of brought back high school ball, running the football. So it was an awesome experience right there.”
He’s not making that up. Perkins ran for more than 2,000 yards at Raleigh High School before he signed as an On3 five-star recruit.
Florida loss didn’t linger for the Rebs
Two weeks ago this was a different conversation.
Florida ran for 302 yards on this group. The Gators scored a touchdown every one of the five times they had the ball after halftime and won 52-28.
That kind of day can wreck a team’s confidence.
Coach Pete Golding used the off week to make his players take a hard look at themselves. Toughness, tackling and doing the job right were on the list.
Coaches give that speech every fall. It doesn’t always work.
It worked Saturday. Ole Miss took the ball away four times, the most it has all year. Two were interceptions and two were fumbles.
The Rebs also got to the quarterback three times, which ties their best mark this fall.
Gators went the other direction
“PG been on us all week through practice,” Perkins said. “Just making sure we be in the right spot to make turnovers and just get shots at the ball, create turnovers so we can get the offense back on the field.”
Perkins said that focus has spread through the whole unit.
“Everybody’s just combining and just staying as one,” Perkins said. “Just executing and doing their job.”
About that Florida game. The Gators have since been beaten soundly by Missouri and then by a South Carolina team few people thought much of.
Maybe beating the Rebels by 24 went to their heads.
Ole Miss got two weeks of film nobody wanted to watch.
The team that lost that day looks like the one that got something out of it.
Perkins keeps climbing the record book
He did more than score.
Perkins picked up career sack No. 20. That puts him fifth on the program’s career list.
His 34.5 tackles for loss now rank fourth.
He did have to sweat a little before the party started. Officials took a second look at the scoop and score.
“It was close,” Perkins said. “I was like, ‘Oh, man, I hope they don’t take the touchdown.’”
It counted. By then things were getting out of hand anyway.
The second quarter alone was worth 28 to the Rebels. They piled up 21 of those in the last four minutes before the break, and it was 42-3 at halftime.
A lineman scores and Missouri is next
Even a defensive lineman got in on the scoring. Trinidad Chambliss threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Jamarious Brown in the middle of that burst.
“He looked like an athlete right there,” Perkins said. “He got up pretty high.”
Asked if this was the best the Rebs have played, Perkins didn’t dodge it.
“Yes, sir, I do feel like it was our best performance playing all four quarters,” Perkins said. “And I feel like we know we can be better. But, yeah, we got the job done.”
That doesn’t sound like a team still carrying the Florida game around.
The win puts Ole Miss at 4-1 with a 2-1 mark in league games. Missouri comes to Oxford next week.
Yes, that’s the same Missouri that just handled Florida.
