College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Ole Miss Rebels season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Ole Miss Schedule Analysis
– Ole Miss Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2020 Record: 5-5 overall, 4-5 in SEC
Head Coach: Lane Kiffin, 2nd year: 5-5 (66-39 overall)
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 22
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 48
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 99
Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Well that was interesting. Ole Miss pivoted a bit from a fun team that ran for a ton of yards and put up massive numbers in shootouts to a team that put up a ton of yards and even more massive numbers in shootouts.
It was a bit out of necessity thanks to a porous defense, but head coach Lane Kiffin and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby tweaked up the attack, made the passing game far more dangerous, and the results were incredible. Ole Miss was third in the nation in total offense averaging 556 yards and 39 points per game. And it’s only going to continue.
– Matt Corral grew into the quarterback job and now should be one of the nation’s most celebrated statistical stars. He can run, but he’s the bomber, John Rhys Plumlee is a dangerous all-around option – he could move to receiver – and Kinkead Dent is the big-arm guy for the near future. The offense is going to move no matter what.
Losing leading receiver Elijah Moore and TE Kenny Yeboah isn’t a plus, but it’s the style along with the talent. Dontario Drummond and Braylon Sanders are back for another year – it’s their job to pick up the receiving slack.
– The offensive line went young last year but it still got the job done. There’s fantastic bulk to go along with the experience – four starters are back – around veteran center Ben Brown who’ll quarterback it all.
Their job is to give Corral just enough time to work and give 5-8, 190-pound speed back Jerrion Ealy room to move. Between Ealy, Corral, and 215-pound junior Snoop Connor, the running game that led the SEC should be even stronger.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Ole Miss Schedule Analysis
NEXT: Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Defense
4. Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Defense
– The Outback Bowl win over Indiana provided a little hope for the defense. The Ole Miss D got roasted – it finished as the second-worst in the nation allowing 519 yards and 38 points per game – but the group all but shut down the Hoosiers for three quarters in the 26-20 win. Now there’s a veteran group returning.
The coaching staff – starting with co-defensive coordinators DJ Durkin and Chris Partridge – is too good not to fix this, and it all starts with a line that has to do more to get into the backfield.
– The defensive tackles are there in 320-pound junior KD Hill and 305-pound senior Hal Northern, but there wasn’t any semblance of a pass rush from the ends. The pressure will mostly come from the outside linebackers when the Rebels are in a 3-4 alignment, but the rotation on the outside has to bring more pop.
– There’s no problem with experience at linebacker. Leading tackler Jacquez Jones and senior Lakia Henry are 235-pound big bodies who can thump, and then it’s about finding the hybrid-types for the outside to generate more pressure. 265-pound senior Sam Williams led the team with four sacks and 240-pound sophomore Cedric Johnson came up with three.
– With the return of senior Jon Haynes, everyone is back in the secondary for defensive back coach Terrell Buckley to work with. This group was rolled way too often, but to be fair, it didn’t get a whole lot of help from the pass rush. 6-2, 200-pound junior AJ Finley led the team with three picks from his free safety spot, but this very big, experienced group of DBs has to generate more big things.
NEXT: Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Top Players
Best Ole Miss Offensive Player
QB Matt Corral, Jr.
The 6-1, 205-pounder showed glimpses of something big as part of a rotation as a sophomore, and then last year he took to the tweaks to the offense and the new coaching staff in a hurry with a special year.
He threw 14 picks, but he hit 71% of his passes for 3,337 yards and 29 touchdowns and ran for four scores. He’s a baller’s baller who loves to go for the deep shots, averaging over ten yards per throw.
2. RB Jerrion Ealy, Jr.
3. C Ben Brown, Sr.
4. WR Dontario Drummond, Sr.
5. WR Braylon Sanders, Sr.
Best Ole Miss Defensive Player
LB Jacquez Jones, Sr.
The Rebels need a whole slew of defensive players to step up and be terrific, but they have a good one in the 6-0, 235-pound senior to work around. He’s not much of a pass rusher, but he’s a solid tackler with 146 stops over the last two years working on the inside. He might not be sensational, but he’s solid.
2. S AJ Finley, Jr.
3. CB Keidron Smith, Sr.
4. DE/LB Sam Williams, Sr.
5. LB Lakia Henry, Sr.
Top Incoming Ole Miss Transfer
WR Jahcour Pearson. Sr.
What wide receiver doesn’t want to play in this high-octane offense? Ole Miss has a few good veterans in place with Elijah Moore gone, and helping the cause is a speedy veteran who didn’t do much last year for Western Kentucky with nine catches in three games, but came up with 76 grabs for 804 yards and seven touchdowns in 2019.
NEXT: Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Ole Miss Biggest Key: Offense
Be really, really careful with the turnovers. Of course that’s a big deal for every team, but interceptions were a massive part of the 2020 Ole Miss season.
This is a high-risk, high-reward offense that doesn’t exactly take a slew of chances, but it’s willing to push it a bit to generate big things down the field. That’s fine, but the Rebels lost three games it could’ve and should’ve won because of interceptions.
There weren’t turnover issues against Florida or Alabama – just one pick against the Gators – and at least the Rebels were able to hang with the big boys in loss. However, the two interceptions in the 35-28 loss to Auburn mattered, the six picks and seven giveaways were a killer in the 33-21 loss to Arkansas, and the six turnovers in the 53-48 shootout against LSU were devastating.
Those were the only three games that Ole Miss had a negative turnover margin, and those three games were the difference between an okay season and something big.
Ole Miss Biggest Key: Defense
Just don’t get gashed on the ground. The Rebels need to get a whole lot more out of the defensive front that didn’t come up with enough pressure and didn’t generate the tackles for loss needed to matter. It also didn’t hold up against the better running games.
The Ole Miss overall style means it’ll always be on the wrong side of the time of possession battle by a large margin, but it’s crushing when the other side is battering away on the ground.
Alabama and South Carolina were able to rumble for over 300 yards, and Kentucky pointed away for 401 yards. The Ole Miss offense was able to make up for the problems in wins over the Gamecocks and Wildcats, but it’s going to be tough to get away with being last in the SEC in run defense again.
Ole Miss Key Player To A Successful Season
DE/LB Sam Williams, Sr.
The Rebels desperately need a guy to step up and become a dangerous pass rusher that makes everyone worry. The 6-4, 265-pound former JUCO transfer made 39 tackles with four sacks and eight tackles for loss – he led the team in both categories – and now he needs help. He’s a key piece to the improvement, though.
Ole Miss Key Game To The 2021 Season
Arkansas, Oct. 9
The Rebels lost to the Hogs 33-21 last year because of turnover after turnover after turnover. The loss was part of a 1-4 start that was tough to recover from, and it’ll be an even bigger deal this time around. It comes after starting the SEC season at Alabama and before at Tennessee, LSU, and at Auburn.
2020 Ole Miss Fun Stats
– Points Per Game: Ole Mss 39.2 – Opponents 38.3
– Time of Possession: Opponents 32:09 – Ole Miss 27:51
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 13-of-18 (72%) – Ole Miss 22-of-33 (67%)
NEXT: Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Ole Miss College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Ole Miss got exactly what it wanted out of Lane Kiffin – the Lane Train made the program fun and exciting.
It was just one season and one 5-5 season that took a bowl win to get there, but the team hung 48 on Alabama. Florida was the only other team to get more than 24 against that monster.
The Rebels beat Mississippi State. They should’ve beaten Auburn and LSU, and they got past – arguably – the Big Ten’s second-best team with a bowl win over Indiana.
And they did it all with a whole lot of pizzazz.
Set The Ole Miss Regular Season Win Total At … 7
There’s still the big question surrounding a defense that has experience, but couldn’t stop you and ten friends from getting 400 yards.
The offense has the explosion to make up for it, the tweaking should be there to be more consistent, and this is going to be one of those appointment television teams that could beat a Texas A&M or LSU at home and once again give Bama some problems.
It’s going to be good enough to lock in six wins and get bowl eligible, it’ll beat at least one team it probably shouldn’t, it’ll lose to at least one team that it definitely shouldn’t, and again …
It’s going to be really, really fun.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Ole Miss Schedule Analysis
