No. 16 Ole Miss Plays Host to Tulsa

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

No. 16 Ole Miss heads into the final non-conference game of the season on Saturday as they play host to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network.

Ole Miss (3-0) is coming off a 42-0 victory over Georgia Tech last Saturday. The Rebels running game scored all six touchdowns on the ground by Zach Evans, Quinshon Judkins and Ulysses Bentley.

This season, Evans (105.7) and Judkins (96.3) are the only pair of teammates in the country averaging 95-plus yards rushing per game.

Head coach Lane Kiffin’s Rebels have won 11 straight home games dating back to Nov. 14, 2020.

Tulsa (2-1) heads to Oxford on a two-game winning streak after earning victories over Northern Illinois (38-35) and Jacksonville State (54-17) behind the team’s elite passing attack that currently ranks first in the FBS.

Senior quarterback Davis Brin enters his matchup with the Rebels as the nation’s leading passer, already tallying 1,206 yards in his first three games of 2022 to average 402.0 yards per game. Brin also leads the nation in passing touchdowns, slinging 11 to just one interception helping him to rank 16th in passing efficiency (177.8) early on in the year.

The Rebels will have to cover some of the nation’s top talents at wide receiver, with Brin’s favorite targets of Keylon Stokes and Juan Carlos Santana both ranking in the top 10 in the country in receiving yards (457, 326) and receiving yards per game (152.3, 108.7), while Stokes ranks second in receptions/game (9.3) and Santana ranks ninth in receiving touchdowns (4) in 2022.

The Golden Hurricane defense will look towards the tackling of safety Bryson Powers and linebacker Justin Wright to help fight the Rebel offense, with Powers’ 27 total tackles leading the team in 2022 with Wright’s 25 sitting not far behind.

Saturday’s contest will be the fourth meeting between the two programs. Ole Miss has never beaten Tulsa in the first three games. This will mark the first time in the series that the two teams have met in Oxford.