Daniels: Recap of Fresno State Bulldogs

Another game, another win and another impressive offensive performance by the Ole Miss Rebel offense as the Rebels scorched the Fresno State Bulldogs 73-21.

For the first time in school history, Ole Miss puts up over 70 points in back-to-back games.

Chad Kelly took the opening snaps again this week for Hugh Freeze’s offense and he was outstanding. Kelly went 20/25 for 346 yards through the air and four passing touchdowns. Kelly also ran the ball five times for 26 yards and a rushing touchdown. We saw our first quarterback change in the Rebels’ first drive of the second quarter when Freeze put in DeVante Kincade.

That drive resulted in a punt. Ryan Buchanan got his first touch with a little over halfway through the second quarter. Buchanan’s first drive ended in an interception returned for a Fresno State touchdown. Ryan Buchanan finished the game going 4/6 for 38 yards and an interception while Kincade finished 2/6 for 8 yards through the air.

Kincade did most of his damage on the ground as he had four carries for 48 rushing yards. Jeremy Liggins also got his usual 4th and short snap as he picked up a key first down in our own territory.

The ground game for Ole Miss looked good for a second straight week as the Rebels had 215 yards on the ground. Jordan Wilkins got the bulk of the shared carries for Ole Miss with seven rushing attempts for 40 yards. Jaylen Walton had six carries for 38 yards in a more subdued performance. Akeem Judd had four carries for 36 yards and a rushing touchdown for the Rebels. Eugene Brazley also ran one in for six and had four carries for 14 yards. For the second straight week, Robert Nkemdiche had an offensive touchdown scoring on a one yard fullback run.

A big target for Chad Kelly in the passing game was Quincy Adeboyejo. Adeboyejo had three receiving touchdowns on just five catches that totaled for 120 yards.

Cody Core had another big day with six receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown catch from Chad Kelly. Laquon Treadwell had a great game with five catches for 73 yards in short amount of game time. Damore’ea Stringfellow was a little more involved in the pass game early and had 45 yards on three catches. Evan Engram had little production last week and it was more of the same this weekend with Engram having no receptions in the game. Hopefully we will see the dynamic side of him that we saw last year when we begin SEC play.

The Ole Miss defense looked good giving up just 14 points in the game with the other seven points coming from a pick six. The Rebels scored two defensive touchdowns on two pick six’s by Trae Elston and Chief Brown. C.J. Johnson also had an interception that was returned deep into Fresno State territory.

Ole Miss wins in another impressive offensive performance and will head into Alabama on Saturday with questions being answered about how Chad Kelly would respond at quarterback. He looks impressive and confident and seems to have the qualities to run the fast-paced, high-scoring offense that Coach Freeze has been known to favor. This seems to be his type of game.

Grant Daniels, a student at Oxford High School, is sports correspondent for HottyToddy.com. Email him at hottytoddynews@gmail.com