A Quick Glance: Ole Miss defeats Vandy, 52-28
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A quick glance at the Ole Miss 52-28 win over Vanderbilt.
THE POSITIVE
The quick-strike offense. Ole Miss had scoring drives of 56 seconds, four seconds, ten seconds and 14 seconds. There was also a sustained drive of a minute and three.
An offense that can score so quickly is a nice club to have in the bag.
THE NEGATIVE
Penalties. In the first half, Ole Miss committed six penalties for 60 yards and most were quite costly. In the game, the Rebels were flagged nine times for 85 yards. That kind of undisciplined play will most likely be addressed by head coach Lane Kiffin and staff.
THE KEY UNIT
The coaching staff. Whatever Lane Kiffin and his coordinators and assistants had to say at halftime, it worked. Trailing 20-17 at the break, the Rebels came out of the locker room hot, outscoring Vandy 21-0 in the third quarter and 35-8 in the second half.
THE KEY PLAY
With 8:33 left in the third quarter, Vandy quarterback AJ Swann threw a backwards pass that fell to the turf and the Commodores assumed it was an incomplete pass. But Ladarius Tennison alertly fell on the ball at the Vanderbilt 4 and a play later the Rebels scored. It set the tone for the second half in Nashville.
THE KEY PLAYER(S)
This is a tie between Deantre Prince and Jonathan Mingo.
Deantre Prince: The defensive back was charged with covering one of the best wide receivers in the Southeastern Conference, Will Sheppard. Sheppard did catch nine passes, but Prince covered him well accounting for four broken up passes and six tackles.
Jonathan Mingo: Out of all the outstanding receivers in school history who tallied some phenomenal games over the years, Jonathan Mingo has now surpassed everyone in terms of single-game receiving yards. He finished with 247 yards on nine receptions, with two touchdowns, to break Elijah Moore’s single-game record of 238.
WHAT THIS MEANS GOING FORWARD
This should serve as a wake-up call for the Rebels. Ole Miss was tested by Tulsa, but this game was more telling. Ole Miss won convincingly, but in the first half was outplayed by Vanderbilt. The rest of the schedule is comprised of nothing but SEC West teams.
(Feature image credit: John Amis, Freelancer for Santa Maria Times)
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.
