Ole Miss vs. Middle Tennessee State: Three Keys to the Game
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss hosts Middle Tennessee State today at 3:15 in Vaught-Hemingway. While the Rebels are currently 43.5-point favorites, there are still keys to the game on which we’re sure Lane Kiffin and his staff are focusing.
Here are our three keys to the game:
1. Establish the ground game
Ole Miss ran for 243 yards against Furman on 37 attempts for a 6.6 yards-per-carry average. While that sounds pretty solid, almost 30 percent of those total yards stemmed from two carries when the game was basically over.
Head coach Lane Kiffin indicated on the SEC Coaches Teleconference this week that he’d like to see more of a consistent ground game as the competition is just going to get better and better as the season goes along.
“The linemen and the front seven are getting bigger here as we go, from week one to week two that we’re playing. It’s more of a challenge this week for them. We really want to establish the run in this game (MTSU). We were really pass-oriented as that game went on (Saturday), and we’d really like to establish the run in this game.“
Lane Kiffin on establishing the run game
Kiffin will look to Henry Parrish, Jr., Ulysses Bentley IV, Matt Jones, Domonique Thomas, and Rashad Amos to help establish the run.
Jones led Ole Miss in rushing against Furman, finishing with 68 yards on 3 attempts with two touchdowns.
Matt Jones goes for ANOTHER TD 🔥🔥@d1matt5 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/EBMtiB85QL
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 1, 2024
Parrish, Jr. notched 40 yards on 8 carries, while Bentley carried six times for 23 yards. Clemson transfer Domonique Thomas tallied 53 yards on 6 carries against Furman for an 8.8 yard per carry average. Amos carried three times for 10 yards.
Last Sunday in a zoom call with media, Coach Kiffin talked about his revamped running backs room.
“I thought they ran well. Protection was not clean. Got a little better, started poorly on the physical side, and mentally, missed a blitz on the sack. We’ve got work to do there, but they did protect the ball, the whole team with no turnovers in a high play-count game.Was great to see them continue the ball security from last year where we’re No. 1 or 2 in the country.”
Lane Kiffin
Kiffin was impressed with Jones’ performance — and his attitude. Jones, who attended Jackson Prep, has spent a number of years on the scout team as a walk-on, yet he didn’t transfer out or complain about his situation.
“It’s so unique nowadays for someone to stay at places and fight through adversity and rosters. It’s awesome. He was down in the service team as a walk-on and made our defense miss about every time a couple years ago. Brought him up, and he’s just always performed really well. He’s going to see more playing time because of it.”
Lane Kiffin on Matt Jones
Keep rotating on the defensive line
The Ole Miss defensive line received a lot of publicity in the off-season and they showed why against Furman as they brought pressure on the Paladins on almost every play — regardless of who was out there on the field for defensive line coach Randall Joyner’s unit.
The group, which features returning stars JJ Pegues (NT), Jared Ivey (DE), and Suntarine Perkins (DE), along with transfers Walter Nolen (DT) and Princely Umanmielen (DE) was a force all day last weekend.
When I say Princely Umanmielen’s first step is “volcanic”, this is what I mean.
The list of EDGE prospects who can match his sheer explosive capacity is not very long.
— Ian Cummings (@IC_Draft) August 31, 2024
But those aren’t the only standouts for defensive coordinator Pete Golding. He and Lane Kiffin have gone out and brought in players who are bigger and longer and talented, making it possible to rotate in players and keep the unit fresh. That will become more and more important as the season grinds on.
Two true freshmen, Kam Franklin and Will Echoles (DT), both played well against Furman. Franklin finished with 5 total tackles, two solo, and notched 1.5 sacks and 3 tackles for loss, along with one quarterback hurry. Echoles finished with 4 total tackles, two solo, along with 1.5 tackles for loss. Not a bad day for two guys in their first collegiate game.
The unit’s production didn’t stop there. Jacksonville State transfer Chris Hardie (DE) finished with 3 tackles, one solo, along with 1.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss and one quarterback hurry. Akelo Stone (NT) also had .5 sacks and .5 tackles for loss. Jamarious Brown (DT) tallied five total tackles, one solo, with two quarterback hurries, while Zxavian Harris (NT) also saw playing time.
Coach Kiffin talked about his defensive line after the 76-0 win in week one.
“It was exciting. It was a feeling we have never had here. I haven’t had it as a head coach. You look at the four guys going out there and the three guys rotating in with them, it is elite. Size, length players that present major problems if they are doing the right thing and playing hard. It is intimidating to play against.”
Lane Kiffin on the defensive line
Ole Miss needs to keep up the defensive pressure against MTSU today, while also trying to balance keeping guys fresh with making sure they have enough snaps.
Coach Kiffin noted on this week’s SEC teleconference that a lot of his defensive players didn’t get as many snaps as he would like.
“Our guys didn’t play a lot of snaps, a lot of our defensive players played in the 20’s, some even in the teens of snaps,” Kiffin said. “We’re going to have to continue working on playing more snaps I guess and continuing to work up. The numbers were more of a preseason game, an NFL team with so few snaps for the starters.”
Backup QB Playing Time
Against Furman, Jaxson Dart played for one half, racking up an incredible 418 yards through the air on a 22-for-27 performance. He threw five TD passes and ran for one more. If the opportunity arises, and one would have to think it possible against the Blue Raiders, the Rebels need to let Dart rest — and stay healthy — and get more time for QB2, Austin Simmons.
The redshirt freshman Simmons came in and played starting in the third quarter against the Paladins, and his first collegiate pass was a 35-yard touchdown pass to Cayden Lee. He finished the game with 111 total yards passing, going 7-for-16 with the one TD pass and no interceptions.
Austin Simmons is in at QB—and throws a TD on his first collegiate pass!
He hits Cayden Lee for a 35-yard strike and Ole Miss goes up 59-0 with 12:49 to go in 3rd. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zz7TMcEzuZ
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 1, 2024
After the win, Coach Kiffin evaluated Simmons’ performance.
“Started well. Touchdown throw was a really pretty throw. Misses one late, the receiver thought he was going to go to the post, so he threw it behind. It was a big third down that would have kept the drive alive. But I thought he did some things good.”
Lane Kiffin on Austin Simmons vs. Furman
Keep in mind, Simmons is a young redshirt freshman. He reclassified up TWO classes — from 2025 to 2023 — to join the team. He’s also a dual-sport athlete who suffered a UCL sprain while pitching for Mike Bianco’s Ole Miss baseball team this spring. Fortunately, Simmons was able to rehab and avoid Tommy John surgery.
With a grueling SEC schedule around the bend, it would be a good idea to get as many meaningful reps for Simmons and Walker Howard as possible.
Up Next
Ole Miss and Middle Tennessee State kick off at 3:15 p.m. (CT) today in the Vaught. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Hotty Toddy!
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
