Ole Miss Offense is Like a Box of Chocolates: Opponents Never Know What They’re Going to Get
OXFORD, Miss. – If Forrest Gump was a defensive coordinator, he could look at his box of chocolates and accurately analyze the Ole Miss offense.
“You never know what you’re going to get.”
A couple of weeks ago, the Rebels threw the ball all over the place at Vanderbilt to give teams a look at the possibility of Ole Miss turning to the passing game. Last week, three Rebels had over 100 yards rushing, and the team ran for 448 in a 48-34 win over Auburn.
It is almost as if defenses must pick their own poison.
“Just two games ago that happened a little bit,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said.
“We were struggling at Vanderbilt with some run stunts up front that they were doing, and Jaxson threw for whatever, 450 yards or something. We’re very confident. Every game is independent. Every game plan is different every week. We’re a little unique that way in that you kind of never know what you’re going to see when you’re playing us. I’m not saying which way is bad or good, I’m just saying we change a lot. Obviously, year to year but even week to week. We always just try to give our players the best chance to win.”
Lane Kiffin on the Ole Miss offense
LSU coach Brian Kelly believes the key to predicting what Ole Miss does lies in what his defense does.
“Offensively there is always an answer to what you do in game as well, but I think more importantly they scout you out,” Kelly said.
“I mean you better know your own self scouting and where your tendencies are because he’s really going to dial in on if there’s anything that you do if you do anything defensively, he is going to analyze that and have an answer for it.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly on the Ole Miss offense
Kelly also believes it is not the schemes Kiffin runs, his strength is running a scheme that fits his personnel.
“That’s what Lane does well, he’s going to set his offense based upon who the player is,” Kelly said.
“It’s not about plays, it’s about players for him and he changes based upon who he has and he has a quarterback that’s a real dual threat.”
Brian Kelly on Lane Kiffin
That quarterback, Jaxson Dart, seems to be becoming more comfortable in his role at Ole Miss after transferring from Southern Cal.
“I think Jaxson has done a really good job,” Kiffin said. “We’re running the system within the system. You don’t see a bunch of screwed up plays or formations where it looks like he’s going the wrong way or the back is, and a lot of that is him communicating this stuff because of how we run this system and how fast it has to go. I think he’s done a great job with that.”
With Dart’s ability to throw the ball combined with his running skills, LSU could be left guessing what it will see Saturday when the two teams kickoff at 2:30 p.m.
It could be an air raid from the Rebels.
But it could also be, “Run Forrest, run.”
(Feature image credit: Kiana Dale/Ole 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.
