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Herring-Olvedo’s Post-Game: Faith is Restored for the Time Being in Oxford
Photo by Joshua McCoy with Ole Miss Athletics
What a treat the Rebels received for themselves this past Saturday in an early Halloween showdown against the Auburn Tigers in Alabama.
For a few moments it seemed the faith has been restored that the Rebels have a chance to get to the show in Atlanta and still control their own fate week by week. The Rebels improve to No. 19 in the AP Poll and are now 7-2 overall and second in West Division.
The Rebels take another step closer to winning out and traveling to Atlanta but they are also blocking the SEC to get a chance in the Big Show in this year’s playoffs. Despite the Rebels appearing to be better, they definitely had a scare against the Tigers. The victory was a tight one with 27-19 over Auburn.
So the question is: can the Rebels win out against Arkansas, LSU and State? While the Rebels managed to slide by, they’re still not in the clear to win if they don’t continue to tighten their belt.
Coach Freeze’s play-calling as of the last few weeks has been spotty in some regards. His play-calling has put the Rebels in some unusual situations that have caused them not to do so well.
Furthermore, the Rebels are going to need a run game. They also need to discontinue the silly mistakes that has caused them to hand over the football as much as they have in crucial game situations.
The Rebels are a good team, but not a great one at this point. They have been able to slide by, but honestly if they want to win out against these next three opponents then their one-dimensional antics and not playing four quarters of football is not going to get them past Arkansas and especially not LSU who is trying to stay in the bigger show for the SEC.
It’s great the Rebels can find ways to win, but it’s not something we all should bet on if they don’t fix things now. Coach Freeze and his team have had plenty of time to tighten their belt.
Living on the edge and having a few tricks up the sleeve may work for Les Miles and his Mad Hatters, but unfortunately it doesn’t work for this Rebel team. The Rebels need to find their own identity and know what works consistently for this team so they can play hardball for all four quarters.
I am not being harsh by any means. The Rebels have a good ball club, but little things make the difference between teams being good or great. Right now the Rebels are in the middle.
This Saturday, the Arkansas hogs are coming to play on Rebels’ turf at 2:30 p.m. Make sure to wear blue and don’t forget the SEC Nation will be in town for the game.
Lee Ann Herring-Olvedo is a HottyToddy.com contributor, veteran SEC sports journalist and Brown University graduate. She loves good cigars, good games and a smooth glass of bourbon — not necessarily in that order. She can be reached at misskentuckyus2011@gmail.com.
| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | W, 63-51 |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | W, 73-66 |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | W, 77-65 |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | W, 74-64 |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | L, 81-84 |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | L, 62-63 |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | 5:00 PM SECN |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | 8:00 PM ESPN2 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | 3:00 PM TBA |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | 6:00 PM ESPN |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |
Phil Higginbotham
November 2, 2015 at 3:01 pm
those 4th down calls are tough, do you go for the easy 3 points and hope your D can stop them or try for the 4th down? Chad will continue to get better and stop forcing throws.
nosserini the great
November 2, 2015 at 9:53 pm
what happened to Eugene Brasley, he had good stats and broke some long TD runs ?
Waste Management
November 3, 2015 at 12:50 am
Findings in this column:
– 0 players named
– 0 mentions of any of the numerous injuries
– 0 specific examples of the so-called “spotty” playcalling
– 0 statistics from any game outside of the final score
– 1 mention of needing to find a running game
– 1 mention of “one-dimensional antics”
– 0 mentions of the 386 yards the Rebels have gained on the ground in the 2 games since Laremy Tunsil returned
– 0 mentions of the fact the Rebels ran the ball 10 more times than they passed it against Texas A&M
– 2 uses of the cliche “tighten their belt”
– 0 explanation of what that is supposed to mean, exactly, leaving readers to assume the Rebels must be trying to lose weight
– innumerable wiffs of someone’s bournon-soaked delusion that they know more about football than (fill-in current head coach name here), even though they probably can’t name the starting middle linebacker, describe a zone read or tell you where the 5 technique lines up.
I find this column to be garbage worthy of permanent disposal.
HBDean
November 3, 2015 at 3:55 am
Did my 11 year old write their article and do you have an editor? If you do then you both need to be fired. What a complete inaccuracy joke.