Nov 7, 2015; Oxford, MS, USA;Arkansas Razorbacks running back Alex Collins (3) is defended by Mississippi Rebels linebacker C.J. Johnson (10) during the fourth quarter of the game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Arkansas won 53-52. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
Ole Miss took a week to recover from a loss that occurred in large part because the Rebels couldn’t stop anything through the air against Arkansas.
Now the Rebels are preparing to begin their final two-game stretch against a team that likes to move the ball an entirely different way with one of the nation’s best players.
Ole Miss’ defense is switching gears from Arkansas’ third-ranked passing offense in the Southeastern Conference to the league’s top-ranked rushing offense in LSU. The Rebels (7-3, 4-2 SEC) were the last team in the conference to have a bye week, giving them a little longer to prepare for their turn against Heisman contender Leonard Fournette, the nation’s leading rusher, when they host LSU (7-2, 4-2) on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“You’re playing one of the best backs probably in the history of the SEC, so it’s a tremendous challenge,” Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said. “You have to gang-tackle. You have to run to the football. He’s just one of the best players that will ever go down as coming through this conference, and that says a lot.”
The Tigers’ rock of a running back (6-foot-1, 230 pounds) has reached the 150-yard mark in all but two games this season and has found the end zone 17 times, usually leaving the imprint of some part of his body on defenders on his way downfield. The sophomore has run for 1,474 yards and is averaging nearly 7 yards a pop.
“Everybody knows what he can do with the ball in his hands,” defensive back Mike Hilton said. “He’s a downhill guy, but he also has the speed to pull away from you. We’ve just got to gang-tackle him, get a lot of bodies around him and just focus on getting him down to the ground.”
On paper, it’s a better matchup for a Rebel defense that’s struggled much more to keep teams from moving the ball through the air than on the ground. Ole Miss ranks next to last in the league in pass defense after Brandon Allen shredded the Rebels for 442 yards two weeks ago.
Freeze praised LSU quarterback Brandon Harris’ ability to strike with the deep ball if the Rebels put too much focus on stopping Fournette, but Harris (166 pass yards per game) hasn’t been able to make defenses pay consistently for selling out on the run.
Ole Miss contained Fournette in the teams’ meeting last season in Baton Rouge, limiting him to 113 yards on 23 carries. It’s a performance the Rebels will need to duplicate by stopping Fournette before he gets started.
LSU enters Saturday’s game coming off back-to-back losses to Alabama and Arkansas, ending its hopes of a playoff berth. Fournette didn’t reach 100 yards in either game.
“If you can get him to make that one cut in the backfield, give the defense time to pursue, you will have a chance,” linebacker C.J. Johnson said. “That will play a big part if we can get penetration and get in the backfield and disrupt him a little bit.”
NOTES, QUOTES
PLAYERS TO WATCH
–WR Laquon Treadwell isn’t leaving much doubt that he’s completely healthy after the gruesome leg injury he suffered a season ago. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior recorded his fifth straight 100-yard game with a seven-catch, 132-yard performance against Arkansas, including a 17-yard touchdown grab, and leads the SEC in receptions (68) and yards (1,002). He’s a physical specimen that’s open even when he’s not and will likely be the first wideout taken in next year’s NFL draft.
–QB Chad Kelly continues to tear up the SEC in his inaugural season in the league. The junior college transfer leads the conference in passing yards (3,224) and total offense (3,496 yards) and is behind only Arkansas’ Brandon Allen in efficiency. He had his best performance in a Rebel uniform against Arkansas with 478 total yards, the second-most ever accumulated by a quarterback in Ole Miss history behind Archie Manning’s 540 yards against Alabama in 1969.
–For the second straight season, DE Marquis Haynes has established himself as one of the SEC’s premier pass rushers. The speedy sophomore has recorded a sack in three straight games and five of the last six, ranking third in the league with a team-high 8.5 sacks. His 12 tackles for loss are also tops on the team.
–Ole Miss has had one of the more successful stretches running the ball against SEC competition in recent memory, and it’s no coincidence Laremy Tunsil has been on the field the whole time. With the All-American back in the lineup each of the last three games following a seven-game suspension handed down by the NCAA for impermissible benefits, Ole Miss has averaged more than 202 yards a game on the ground with many of the runs going behind the 6-foot-5, 310-pound Tunsil on the left side.
