Coach Freeze Plans Ahead in the Rebels’ Bye Week

Photo by Kevin Bain / Ole Miss Communications

This morning, Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze met with the media for his weekly press conference. The Rebels will have a bye week after the heart-breaking loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in overtime 53-52.

Ole Miss Rebels plan to use this week to prepare for the upcoming game against LSU on November 21. Despite the loss, Coach Freeze does his best to remain positive.

“Well, I never experienced anything quite like what we experienced on Saturday.” Freeze said, “After watching the film and the effort that was given by both teams and ours, we couldn’t find issues with effort. It was certainly one of those days where the offenses had their way on both sides. It was a very difficult ending. You think you have won it a couple of times. Obviously, a game is never just decided on those plays, but they are a part of it. It’s a difficult loss, but there were a lot of positives. It was possibly one of the most efficient offensive games since I’ve been here.”

He commented on the wild play that ended the game: “As far as the game, the lateral and the bounce over C.J. (Johnson’s) head, to a linemen that tips it right into their fastest guy’s hands. That is one of those things that the longer you’re in the game as a coach, some of those bounces go our way. We have had a few of those bounces go our way. We stopped them on the two-point conversion, but had a flag on the ground. It was totally unintentional by our kid to touch the facemask. It was a difficult ending for sure.”

Coach Freeze praised Chad Kelly and the offensive line.

“I thought Chad (Kelly) played extremely well, as did the offensive line and receivers.” Freeze said, “There were a lot of positives in the game. I thought we controlled the run game against a very good running team. Obviously, that was the plan: to stop the run. We unfortunately didn’t have answers to their pass game. That is something that we will have to address. I’m looking forward to an open week to get some people healed up, healthier and digging in on our stuff so we are evaluating what we are asking our kids to do. Hopefully we are making it simple for them to execute at the highest level. I think, as a coach, that’s what you always have to do — is (to) make sure you are asking your kids to do the most that they are capable of doing, and giving them the best tools to do that. This gives us an opportunity this week to dig in on a lot of individual practice where you are not having to game plan the entire practice.”

Freeze said he is excited about this bye week and anxious to get back on the field.

Also, junior defensive back Tony Conner returned to the lineup against the Hogs this weekend. His knee swelled up post-game. Freeze said they are draining his knee this afternoon and then see how Conner feels tomorrow afternoon.

“Like I said earlier, we’ve always known that there is an issue he is going to have to get corrected after the season is over.” Freeze said, “It is still there. Tony got 30 snaps, I believe. We just have to monitor it. The same plan is still there. There is going to have to be a surgery after the season to completely fix it.”

He and the Ole Miss staff will figure out the best way to play the LSU Tigers after seeing them go against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

“Alabama is built to stop runs inside the tackles. That is what they do.” Freeze said, “It didn’t surprise me that they were going to stop that kind of run game. There are certain things that we can study and learn from them. We will look at all that and try to fit it to our game plan.”

Adam Brown is the sports editor at HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.