Three takeaways from the Rebels’ win over Vandy and a look ahead

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss is now 6-0 (2-0 SEC) after knocking off the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville on Saturday. Despite a rough first-half showing that saw them behind at the half, the Rebels were able to pull out the win and are now a half-game behind Alabama and in second place in the SEC West. 

Here are three takeaways from the win over Vandy:

Work to do up front

In the first half, the Commodores simply won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that’s a large part of why the score at intermission looked the way it did. Give Vanderbilt a lot of credit, as they had a really good game plan going into the matchup and were successful in the areas you need to be in order to have a chance to beat Ole Miss.

The Commodores ran the ball between the tackles effectively early on and controlled the game, as their time of possession ended at 41:17 while the Rebels held the ball for just 18:43. Vandy also did a good job of tackling and clogging up holes defensively which slowed down the Rebels’ rushing attack in the first half.

Head coach Clark Lea’s team did what I think a lot of teams are going to try to do against Ole Miss, and that is attempt to away the run game and make the Rebels beat them through the air. Fortunately Ole Miss was able to find a lot of success in the passing game. Had the Rebels not, they could have been in some trouble.

You’d like to see the offensive line play more consistently — run blocking and pass pro — and I am confident they will if they can get everyone healthy. They moved several guys all around the line throughout the game and started two freshmen at the tackles for the second week in a row. Gaining more experience each week can only make them better, so look for that group to end up even better down the stretch.

Dart improving each week

Despite two big mistakes that led to interceptions, quarterback Jaxson Dart played a really good game. It was his best statistically by far as he went 25-of-32 with 448 yards and three touchdowns. He stepped up when the Rebels needed him which is a great sign.

A big part of Ole Miss eventually pulling away from Vandy was because of the Rebs’ ability to score on the last drive of the first half to cut the lead to three points. Dart did a really nice job of managing the game and putting the Rebels in a good spot on that drive. He helped his team when it was in a rough spot, and that could be a sign of great things to come.

Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart waves to the crowd after the Rebels’ win over Vandy.

Dart always impresses me on the drives after he throws an interception. A lot of quarterbacks will get down on themselves or try to do too much to overcome a bad decision, sometimes letting one mistake turn into two. Dart doesn’t do that; he’s really sharp after he makes a mistake and he doesn’t let the interceptions affect the rest of the game.

He’s a young quarterback who’s going to make some mistakes, and I think to some degree he knows that. It’s really important for him to just control what he can control and keep playing when things don’t go his way. He’s already off to a great start in that area.

Dart looks more comfortable and confident every week, and the offense looks better and better because of that. If he can continue improving each week like he has been, he’s going to end up a very good quarterback in the second half of the season.

It’s about to get real

Ole Miss is about to get seriously tested as the gauntlet that is SEC West portion of the schedule is now here. 

The Rebs play Auburn at home next week, and although Auburn is having a down year, the Tigers seem to always give Ole Miss a tough time. The Rebels haven’t defeated Auburn since 2015.

After the Auburn matchup, Kiffin’s team has two road trips to extremely tough environments as they travel to LSU and then Texas A&M the following week. Both of those games are very winnable, but playing on the road in the SEC is always tough. Ole Miss is going to get all it wants in those two games.

After that comes a bye week before facing Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State to close out the season. The way the league is looking, Ole Miss has a serious shot to make some noise in the west, but it’s going to be challenging as the meat of the schedule we’ve all been talking about since it was released is finally upon us.

There are no easy games left. Everything the Rebels want to do this season is right in front of them. The talk is over, and it’s time to find out what kind of team they really are.