Postgame Points : Memphis 37, Ole Miss 24

Each week The Rebel Walk brings you Jeff Tetrick’s “Postgame Points,” where Jeff takes a look at the top five takeaways from the most recent Ole Miss football game. Hotty Toddy!

1. SEC West Race

The first postgame point this week is that Ole Miss is still in control of its own destiny in the SEC West race. Despite suffering a 37-24 setback at #22 Memphis on Saturday, the Rebels remain in the hunt for the SEC West title. With a record of 5-2 (2-1 SEC), the Rebels are likely out of College Football Playoff contention but very much alive in their quest to play for an SEC championship.

Ole Miss dropped to #24 in the AP Top 25 poll this week. However, the Rebels have a great opportunity to move back up in the rankings with #15 Texas A&M coming to town this weekend. The Rebels need to regroup quickly and remain focused on winning out.

If Ole Miss can run the table in the final 5 conference games, this team will capture the SEC West crown for the first time since 2003 and be playing for the league title in Atlanta.

2. Laquon Treadwell

Laquon Treadwell had 14 catches for 144 yards in the loss to Memphis. (Photo credit: Joshua McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)

Junior wide receiver Laquon Treadwell had a huge game for Ole Miss against Memphis. He had a tremendous, record-setting day as a receiver. As well, Treadwell did his best quarterback impression on the game’s opening drive.

Treadwell caught 14 passes against the Tigers, for a career-high 144 yards and 1 touchdown. It marks the second week in a row that Treadwell has set a career-high in receiving yards, as he previously set the bar with 136 yards in the homecoming win over New Mexico State. The 14 receptions against Memphis is a new school record for catches in a game.

If that was not enough, Treadwell tossed a 68-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Adeboyejo on the second play of the game to give the Rebels an early 7-0 lead. It was the first touchdown pass of Treadwell’s career in red and blue, and it was the longest reception in Adeboyejo’s career.

The Crete, Illinois native continues to have a spectacular season and move up the charts in several categories in the Ole Miss record book. On the season, Treadwell has 49 receptions, 654 yards, and 4 touchdowns. He leads the SEC in receiving yards and receptions per game (7). For his career, Treadwell now ranks third in school history with 169 receptions, sixth with 14 touchdown catches, eighth with 1,894 receiving yards, and third with six career 100-yard receiving games.

3. Perimeter Weapons

Quincy Adeboyejo (Photo credit: Bentley Breland, The Rebel Walk)

In addition to a big day from Laquon Treadwell, several other members of the Rebel receiving corps made nice contributions to the school record 440 passing yards against Memphis. Quarterback Chad Kelly was able to find his perimeter weapons 33 times on Saturday afternoon.

• Quincy Adeboyejo caught 2 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown versus Memphis. Adeboyejo leads the SEC with 6 touchdown catches on the season, which ranks him 13th in the nation in that category.

• Cody Core grabbed a career-high 6 passes for 83 yards. Core now has 1,079 receiving yards in his Rebel career.

• Evan Engram caught 4 balls against the Tigers for 24 yards. Engram has 1,091 yards in his 3 seasons wearing the red and blue.

• Damore’ea Stringfellow got in on the action with 4 receptions for a career-best 72 yards and 1 touchdown.

4. Mike Hilton

Senior Mike Hilton made plays all over the field against Memphis. The Chucky Mullins Courage Award Winner had 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles-for-loss, 1 sack, and 1 interception. It was the second interception of the season for number 38, and Hilton now has 6 picks in his career.

Hilton led the Rebels in tackles-for-loss on the day, and his 11 tackles tied for the game-high with teammate C. J. Hampton. Hilton and Fadol Brown were responsible for the 2 sacks recorded against Tigers quarterback Paxton Lynch, and Hilton broke up one of Lynch’s passes, as well. Hilton’s leadership and hustle show why he earned the right to wear the number 38 jersey this year.

5. Defensive Stars

Breeland Speaks (Photo credit: Bentley Breland, The Rebel Walk)

Besides Hilton and Hampton, other Rebel defensive stars against Memphis included DeMarquis Gates, Fadol Brown, and Breeland Speaks. Gates was responsible for 7 tackles, 1 tackle-for-loss, and broke up 1 pass. Brown recorded 6 tackles and 1 sack for the Landshark defense. Speaks was a part of 6 tackles on Saturday, and he had 2 tackles-for-loss.

Going forward, the Landsharks have to find a way to get off the field on third-down plays. By allowing Memphis to convert on 12 of 20 third-down attempts, the Rebels let Memphis extend too many drives. The result was that the Ole Miss defense was on the field for 94 snaps on Saturday. With injuries mounting on defense, which has depleted the depth chart, the Rebels have to be able to get off the field on third-down.

Both Coach Hugh Freeze and defensive tackle Breeland Speaks made mention of the number of snaps that the defense was on the field against the Tigers during Monday’s weekly press conference. If Ole Miss can improve the third-down defense and put the ball back into the hands of the potent Rebel offense, the Landsharks will have much fresher legs in the second-half of games.