Landsharks swarm Vanderbilt
“You’ve got fins to the left, fins to the right and you’re the only bait in town.” ~ Jimmy Buffett
OXFORD, Miss. – It is unlikely singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett was thinking about the Ole Miss Landshark Defense when he wrote that lyric in his song “Fins,” but it aptly describes how Vanderbilt’s offense must have felt Saturday night.
The Rebels’ defense went into a feeding frenzy during the 31-6 Ole Miss win, continually swarming Vanderbilt ball carriers.
“The D-Line played really well tonight,” head coach Matt Luke said.
“They were getting pressure without blitzing. I’m just really proud. They got a shut-out in the second half. Keeping them out of the end zone. They played pretty well so credit Coach (Mike) MacIntyre, his staff, and the defense.“
Head coach Matt Luke on the Ole Miss defense
Vandy was limited to 62 yards rushing, and the Rebels collected nine tackles for loss, three sacks and eight quarterback hurries.
More importantly, the defense kept Vanderbilt out of the endzone, surrendering just two field goals.
Individually, inside linebacker Lakia Henry sported the most dominant dorsal fin for the Landsharks, leading the unit with 15 tackles, one for loss, a sack and a hurry.
Inside linebacker Jacquez Jones tallied nine tackles and defensive back Jaylon Jones added seven.
Speaking of keeping up with the Joneses….Benito Jones smelled the blood in the water and spent a great amount of time in the Commodores’ backfield. The senior had 2 ½ tackles for loss, a sack and four hurries.
Vanderbilt was especially swarmed on third down as it failed on its first ten attempts to convert one into a first down. The Commodores finally converted on with 8:11 left in the third quarter. For the game, Vandy converted just 2-of-17 of its third downs.
The Commodores did end up with 202 yards passing, but 62 of those yards came in the fourth quarter with the game was no longer in doubt. Ole Miss countered that by holding Vandy to minus-13 yards on the ground in the final period.
“We feel good,” said Jaylon Jones.
“Obviously, we can’t go back and get those losses but this game was a confidence booster. But we’re just going to go back and watch film Sunday and keep this confidence rolling.“
Jaylon Jones on how the defense is feeling
The Landsharks will look to continue the Saturday success when they visit Missouri next week. The Tigers are led by quarterback Kelly Bryant, a transfer from Clemson. However, his availability next week is not known after he missed the second half of the win over Troy after suffering a knee injury. He spent the rest of the game on crutches.
If Bryant is hobbled at all, the defense could have another feeding frenzy.
Perhaps Buffett does know something about the Landsharks, after all he was born in Pascagoula, Miss.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
