Rebels Defense Picked Up 27-21 Win in Grove Bowl

Spring football practice came to a close on Saturday with the annual Grove Bowl game. The defense was able to come away with a 27-21 victory in the annual Red vs. Blue scrimmage at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium on a chilly afternoon.
The defense was given a 27-0 lead as the game began and the offense would have to overcome the deficit.
“Overall, I’m pleased,” Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke said. “I think we got out of there with no major injuries. We had a lot of guys out going into this thing, we knew that. We had some tough conditions, and you might be in a game that way and have to learn from it. But overall, I thought it was good.”
Ole Miss’ offense first score came when Jordan Ta’amu found wide receiver D.K. Metcalf for a 53-yard strike to pay dirt. Metcalf was able to beat D.D. Bowie on the play.
Metcalf’s day wasn’t done there as his number was called again for the offense’ second score on the day. On the first play of second quarter scrimmage, Ta’amu and Metcalf hooked up again with a fade route in the corner of the end zone, trimming the lead to 27-14.
Metcalf finished the day with three catches for a total of 64 yards and two touchdowns.
“I think I did pretty good,” Metcalf said. “As always, there’s room for improvement. Any time I finish anything I’m going to be a big critic of myself.”
The Rebels Landshark defense held strong for the remainder of the half to take a 27-14 advantage into the dressing rooms at the half.
Ole Miss’ Matt Corral lead the offense back onto the field in the third quarter.
Corral finished the day completing six of 16 attempts for 36 yards and two interceptions in the game.
Coach Wesley McGriff’s defense pitched a shutout in the third quarter of action.
“Going into spring ball we had several goals, but the biggest goal you want to have is limiting explosive plays practically in the running game, and secondly to prevent the deep ball,” McGriff said. “Just stopping it is not good enough, we must take it away. I think the guys did a tremendous job of taking ownership of severing their gaps and doing their job to prevent big plays in the running game.”
In the fourth, Ta’amu scored the offense’ last score of the game on a six-yard run up the middle with 8:13 left on the clock. He passed for 190 yards with two touchdowns in 12 completions on 20 attempts. He also ran the ball for 21 yards on five carries and one touchdown.
“I felt like our offense as a whole progressed throughout the whole spring, and it showed out there in the spring game,” Ta’amu said.
“I thought [Jordan] was good,” Luke said. “I thought given the wet conditions, he threw the ball well. When he was in there, they were pretty successful and they went on a 20-play, 99-yard drive. That’s good to see in the spring, to go on a long drive like that. I’m just impressed with him. I just want to continue to work on getting with the receivers and just getting it down to cohesion with the receivers and just continue to build on being the leader of the team. That’s what you see.
“Everybody is rallying around Jordan,” Luke added. “So I just want him to continue to be that leader, and I thought he did a great job with that in the spring.”
The Rebels were led in rushing by junior Scottie Phillips for 40 yards on nine touches on the afternoon.
“The progress we made this spring obviously is much better than it was last spring,” Offensive coordinator Phil Longo said. “I think it happened faster this year, too. We’re happy with the 15 practices with spring ball. Our expectations started off wanting that same energy against Texas Tech the way we finished at Mississippi State.”
Ole Miss opens the 2018 season against Texas Tech on Sept. 1 in Houston, Texas.

---

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