Even before Trinidad Chambliss’ Hail Mary pass ended up in the hands of a Texas defender and the clock struck zero on Ole Miss’ 34-27 loss, the fan reactions were predictable.
The message boards are full of posts questioning Pete Golding’s ability as head coach, Chambliss’ skill set, the defensive transfer portal additions and pretty much everything else you can think of.
Is it an overreaction? Absolutely considering the same message boards looked the exact opposite last week.
But that chorus of the Ole Miss fandom isn’t entirely without reason for being loud. The Longhorns were the better team for 45 minutes Saturday night and the Rebels looked like a completely different team (especially Chambliss).
That wasn’t the same version of Ole Miss we saw steamroll Vanderbilt two weeks or dominate then-No. 13 Missouri last week.
At times, this looked like the Ole Miss team that was walloped in Florida and that’s easy fuel for the fires online.
While yours truly isn’t one to help fires spread beyond the campfire, here are three things that went wrong for Ole Miss.
Running game had very little success
You have to run the ball to win in the SEC. All 16 of the conference’s head coaches will say something like that and its true.
If you can’t run the ball, especially on first down, you’re forced into more obvious passing situations and good defenses can tee off on that.
Texas has an elite defense. It was allowing just 106.3 yards per game coming into Saturday, one of the lowest averages in the nation. Ole Miss won’t help lower that average, but not by much.
The Rebels had 114 rushing yards against Texas with only 3.9 yards per carry. Take away Makhi Frazier’s 34-yard run and Oscar Bird’s 17-yard fake punt first down, the Rebels averaged 2.3 ypc.
That’s not good enough and it forced Ole Miss to rely on its passing attack. Trinidad Chambliss threw 52 times against the Longhorns, the most he’s had as a Rebel.
And really its not an “end of the world development” because, usually, Chambliss is great. However…
Chambliss’ costly first-half interceptions
…he wasn’t his normal, great self.
Chambliss completed only 48% of his passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions. One of those interceptions was on the game’s final play, a desperate Hail Mary pass.
The other two were much more consequential.
The first came immediately after Jalyn Crawford intercepted Arch Manning and gave Ole Miss possession at the Texas 32. An ideal scoring opportunity to take the lead in the first quarter.
Chambliss promptly gave it back.
The second came on fourth-and-goal from the Texas 2, ending an 82-yard drive just before halftime without any points.
What’s even worse about both interceptions was that they were passes thrown to covered receivers. It’s the type of throws you make in a video game and instantly know you threw a pick.
That’s not typical Chambliss.
He did help make up for it with a few excellent passes in the second half, but take away the first half interceptions and this game looks completely different.
Fourth quarter run defense
Texas didn’t come into the game with an elite rushing attack and it was going to be without leading rusher Hollywood Smothers.
For three quarters, the Longhorns stuck to their consistent ways. They had only 86 rushing yards before the fourth quarter.
But once Ole Miss completed its rally and tied the game at 24-24 a minute into the fourth quarter, Texas put on an elite rushing performance.
The Longhorns retook the lead for good with an 80-yard touchdown drive that consisted of only run plays. They’d end up running for 121 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.
And now we’re back to questioning how good this Ole Miss run defense is.
