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One week after cruising to a herculean first half lead against Florida State, only to see it winnowed into nothingness, Ole Miss returned home to Oxford to take on FCS foe Wofford. As expected, Ole Miss played like the top-20 team that they are, jumping out to a 24-3 lead at halftime that was due in large part to the passing prowess of Chad Kelly. They were rolling from the get-go, and it never seemed like the outcome was in doubt.
The second half saw Ole Miss’ offense slow down a bit, which was understandable since Hugh Freeze elected to sub in some players who were lower in the depth chart. The Rebels’ defense did find it a bit hard to stop the triple option attack that Wofford employs (they allowed over 200 rushing yards), but they managed to limit the damage done to them on the ground; the Terriers only scored one touchdown the entire afternoon.
Now, what did we learn from Ole Miss’ big win today?
1. Wofford is Wofford
Redundancy aside, the fact remains that Ole Miss was facing an FCS team that they were favored to beat by well over 40 points. Anything less than a blowout would have been a disappointing result for the Rebels, who were just looking for an easy game to exorcise some demons from the previous week.
2. Chad Kelly is still the SEC’s best Quarterback
Going into the season, everyone knew that there were going to be a litany of question marks at the quarterback position in the SEC. Perhaps the only team immune from those questions was Ole Miss, who is fortunate enough to have Chad Kelly under center. Tonight proved why that is the case, as Kelly threw for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’s simply the best quarterback the SEC has.
3. Ole Miss wasn’t down on itself
Losing in such depressing fashion against Florida State last week was certainly not good for morale, no matter how good the Seminoles are. No matter the opponent, it was important for the Rebels to come out today ready to play and show that they could easily shake off the negative energy from Monday’s loss. It’s easy to say that they did just that.
Overall, the Rebels looked solid today, and it is evident that they are going to have a long week ahead of them as they prepare to take on Alabama at home next weekend.