What To Watch For: Ole Miss Rebels

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

LOUISVILLE’S INTERIOR OFFENSIVE LINE WILL HAVE THEIR HANDS FULL

It seems at times that the great “SEC Defensive Linemen” are mythologized as if they are gods, but I would challenge anyone to watch the highlights of the Ole Miss defensive line and not understand it a little bit. Will Echoles is going to be a first-round pick. Kam Franklin is 300 pounds and moves like a defensive end. Jehiem Oatis’ early highlights look like John Henderson or Marcus Stroud. These guys are just freakishly athletic for how big they are.

Louisville will have a revamped offensive line, but the positions where they will have unproven players at this level are on the interior. Eryx Daughtery played at a high level in the ACC last year, but Johnnie Brown and Evan Wibberly will be playing against players who are on a very different level than the G6 programs where they last played. UofL was at their best last year, when the line negated interior penetration in the run game. It will be a major factor in this game.

CAN OLE MISS RELOAD AT RECEIVER

The Rebels have one returning receiver from their rotation last year after losing two players to the NFL and two to the transfer portal. Deuce Alexander returns for an expanded role, but one has to wonder how the other guys on the depth chart will produce in this offense.

Horatio Fields had a strong season for Wake Forest two years ago, but he missed most of the season last year with a broken foot. Johntay Cook has been a headache for other coaches, on top of not being overly productive. Darrel Gill has the most upside, in my opinion, but can he be a consistent performer for them?

Ole Miss has been one of the best teams in the country over the last few years when it comes to spreading the ball around. It’s a key to their offensive identity as well as their overall game plan. John David Baker spent one year as the offensive coordinator at East Carolina, and his offense sprayed the ball around the field in a way that is hard to quantify. His top two receivers averaged nearly 20 yards per catch on the year, and seven different receivers in their rotation caught a touchdown pass. They need a lot of contributors in this offense, so it’s worth watching which guys can take a step forward.

ISAAC BROWN HAS TO BE A STAR

Isaac Brown was shut down in one game last year. That’s it. One team was able to contain the Louisville star, and one other team was able to keep him under 100 yards. He still averaged 5.6 yards against that Virginia team that held him to 66 yards on the ground. Pitt completely dominated the Louisville offensive line in a putrid performance by the Cards. But Brown was able to put up at least one highlight run in every other game that he was healthy in.

The Cards need that big-play ability to show up on Sunday, and it probably wouldn’t hurt for it to show up more than once. Brown has the ability to take over a game, and he has the ability to force a defense to adjust to stop him. That is not something that most running backs can do, and if he can force the defense to adjust with his play, it will open up things for the passing game.

HOW AGGRESSIVE CAN MARK IVEY BE

Per PFF, Trinidad Chambliss was the second-best quarterback in the country last year when under pressure. He was the 8th-best passer and the 2nd-best runner when being pressured, which no other quarterback besides Brenden Sorsby came close to. To put it plainly, Chambliss was the most dynamic quarterback in the country when defenses were able to get near him on passing plays.

Kewan Lacy finished in the top 10 in the country last year in 10-, 20-, 30-, and 40-yard runs. He also had 29 catches on the season, which would have been good for third on Louisville’s offense. Lacy didn’t break any big plays in the passing game, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable. He showed in the Playoffs that he is a home run threat on any play.

So, how do you defend such dynamic players without being too cautious? It’s a question that Mark Ivy will have to answer in his first game as the play caller under Jeff Brohm. Ivey called the plays in the 2022 bowl game when Scott Satterfield and Bryan Brown headed to Cincinnati, and in that game he was about as aggressive as a coach could be, which trended with how Brown had called the defense that year.

Brohm commented on Ivey’s aggressive mindset after the Cards’ first scrimmage this fall. He pointed out that the defense needs to know when to bring pressure and when not to. One has to wonder if Ivey’s natural inclination to be aggressive and bring extra players could be an issue in this game. Also, what does a cautious Mark Ivey defense look like? We will likely learn a lot about our new defensive coordinator on Sunday.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos