In a Nutshell: Ole Miss dominates Tulane, 45-10
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss defeated Tulane, 45-10, Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway. The win pushes the Rebels to 4-0 as they await LSU next week.
Here is the nutshell of Saturday’s win:
THE POSITIVE: The defense. More importantly, the pass defense. Tulane starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff did not complete a pass until the last play of the first half. As a team, the Green Wave only threw for 104 yards. Ole Miss did not record a sack, but had 11 quarterback hurries and forced an interception.
THE NEGATIVE: Ole Miss scored on each of its five first-half drives. But the Rebels had to settle for field goals on three of them. If the offense had been able to put the ball into the end zone more efficiently, this would have been a blowout in the first half.
THE KEY POSSESSION: Actually, there were three. Tulane had possession three times in the third quarter with one spilling into the fourth period. Already trailing by 20 points, the Green Wave basically benched their punter. It resulted in Ole Miss forcing a turnover on downs in each possession. That kept the Wave off the scoreboard and the home team put up 22 in the fourth quarter.
THE KEY UNIT: This is rare, but how about the entire Ole Miss coaching staff. They were able to keep the Rebels focused on the task at hand instead of looking forward to LSU coming to Oxford next week. The offense came together and gained 548 yards. The defense surrendered just 282 yards, and the special teams were just about perfect. Lucas Carneiro nailed each of his field goal attempts, Oscar Bird only had to punt once but it went for 54 yards, and Trey Wallace averaged ten yards on three punt returns.
WHAT THIS MEANS GOING FORWARD: It means Ole Miss has solidified its top 15 ranking heading into a stretch of games against LSU and road trips to Georgia and Oklahoma. With the health of Austin Simmons in question, the Rebels now know they can trust Chambliss running the offense. He has run well, thrown for four touchdowns and most importantly, he has yet to commit a turnover. To many, Ole Miss looks like just a team that produces explosive plays. In reality, the offense, defense and special teams are simply solid. In a nutshell, it will be tough to see the Rebels beating themselves.
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.
