Daniels: A Recap of the 2015 Ole Miss vs. UT Martin Football Game

Ole Miss Rebels vs UT Martin Skyhawks on September 5, 2015. (Photo by Josh Bonner/Libertine Images)

Ole Miss demolished the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks 76-3 in Oxford last Saturday.

There were a lot of questions surrounding how the Ole Miss offense would respond to life after Bo, and I believe the Rebels answered them. I don’t care who you are playing, putting up 76 points is impressive. Those 76 points were the most in 80 years, with the last time Ole Miss scoring close to this amount being under Coach Ed Walker. That year the Rebels put up 92 points against the Memphis Tigers.

Saturday, the offense totaled for 662 total yards — 324 of those yards were passing while the other 338 yards were on the ground. Chad Kelly got the start Saturday, but DeVante Kincade and Ryan Buchanan got quality playing time as well.

I don’t think there is any questions who the starter will be; it’s going to be Chad Kelly.

Kelly finished the game going 9/15 for 211 yards, three total touchdowns and one interception. Buchanan went 4/6 for 58 yards and tossed two touchdowns while Kincade went 6/7 for 55 yards and a touchdown. Having all of this depth at quarterback can only be a positive.

Laquon Treadwell made his first start for the Rebels since his injury last year. Treadwell had four receptions for 44 yards with his first bringing an emotional cheer from the more than 60,000 fans. Cody Core had a nice game as he had two catches for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Markell Pack had a touchdown reception on two catches for 63 yards. Quincy Adeboyejo had three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown. DaMarkus Lodge also caught a touchdown pass for 12 yards. Freeze was very creative offensively as he even gave Robert Nkemdiche a play on the offensive. Nkemdiche had one catch for 31 yards and a touchdown reception. The running game was effective for Ole Miss as the former number 17th overall junior college prospect, Akeem Judd, having the most carries which was 11 for 50 yards. Jaylen Walton ran two touchdowns in on three carries for 65 yards.

Eugene Brazley led the Rebels in rushing yards with 88 yards on six carries and a touchdown. The hometown running back, D.K. Buford looked good for the future as he had just four carries for 68 yards and a touchdown run. Ten different players scored a touchdown for Ole Miss as Freeze did great spreading the ball around, getting everyone plays.

I think we got a glimpse of Coach Freeze getting back to running the type of offense that he prefers. Markell Pack, Robert Nkemdiche, Chad Kelly, DaMarkus Lodge, Eugene Brazley, and D.K. Buford all scored their first touchdowns as Rebels yesterday.

The defense played a pretty good game as they limited UT-Martin to just 174 passing yards and 116 rushing yards. The Rebels did give up a few big runs, but I do not think that it is something to worry to much about. It looks as if we finally have a punt returner as Carlos Davis looked great receiving the punts.

Davis had six returns for an average of 13.3 yards on the returns. Carlos Davis did go to the locker room in the 3rd quarter but hopefully whatever caused him to leave the field is not too severe. The Rebels blowout the Skyhawks as they improve to 1-0 on the season. UT-Martin falls to 0-1 on the season.

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