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First Glance: Ole Miss

Do you like night games at Neyland Stadium? Do you like the new light show and fireworks that proceed Volunteer touchdowns? Well, get your popcorn ready because it’s about to be a show.

“[It’s] a really good football team we are facing – in all three phases,” Josh Heupel said during his Monday press conference. “Obviously offensively, their quarterback is a special player and has done a tremendous job this year and last year as well. He’s a dynamic playmaker that we’ll have to make it tough on him all night long.

“We’ll have to do a good job of bottling him up.”

Former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin returns to Knoxville as the second-year boss in Oxford, and like his counterpart Saturday night, he’ll bring one of the nation’s most prolific offenses to town.

It’s a similar scheme with similar terminology. Rebels’ offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby spent two seasons in Orlando with Josh Heupel prior to leaving for Ole Miss in 2020. The opposing offense will go fast and look to score a lot of points - all while putting a focus on the run game with a mobile quarterback.

Sound familiar? Well, just how similar are these two offensive units?

They rank No. 1 & 2 in the country in plays per minute with Ole Miss leading the charge at 2.89 (Vols sit at 2.87). The Rebels are third in the nation and tops in the Southeastern Conference with 46 points a game while Tennessee is third in conference and 7th nationally with 41.5. Ole Miss leads the league and is second in the country with 561.6 yards of total offense an outing while Tennessee is third and 19th, respectfully, with 474 yards a contest.

Kiffin’s bunch is second in the conference with 259 rushing yards an outing while Heupel’s squad comes in third just six yards behind.

The quarterbacks also have an under-the-radar storyline in this one. Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker is an SEC-best and fifth in the nation with a 185.9 QB Rating. Ole Miss’s Matt Corral comes in a spot behind at 182.4.

“You can see offensively, there is a rhyme and reason behind everything they are doing,” Heupel said. “They are going to put defenses in conflict. Up-tempo and similar to what we do.

“They do a great job of being balanced and creating big plays, too. It starts with their quarterback, but they are really efficient in their run game. Him [Corral] being a part of that as well – he does a great job with scrambles, too.”

Where Tennessee has been better to date is on the defensive side of the football.

The Volunteers are a respectable 344.3 yards of total defense and average 21.5 in scoring defense – both of which are sixth in the conference. Ole Miss, however, ranks 12th in the SEC in both categories, surrendering 432.2 yards a game with a 32.2 tally in scoring defense.

The Rebels have improved a little on defense in 2021 as it was a league’s worst a season ago, surrendering 40 points a game.

Corral was a breakout player in 2020 and is on-pace to be even better in 2021. He’s cut down on his 14 interceptions from a year ago – throwing none so far – and has combined for 20 touchdowns in five games. He’s the team’s second-leading rusher with 322 yards on top of his 1,497 passing yards and 69 percent completion rate.

“Hendon Hooker is a guy who does the same thing in practice,” senior Alontae Taylor said on Monday. “Matt Corral is a great quarterback, but we have the same talent, I feel, in our quarterback and in our receiver room that we see in practice.

“We don’t just do scout team in practice – we do good-on-good. Our first-team defense and first-team offense is still going head-to-head, week in and week out, at practice. At the end of the day, as a defensive back, you just have to be ready for anything and everything.”

Ole Miss returns three veteran backs to aid Corral in the offensive attack. Henry Parrish Jr. registers a team-high 334 yards on 54 carries but it’s junior Snoop Connor finding pay dirt more with seven rushing touchdowns. All-SEC tailback Jerrion Ealy has also totaled 204 yards with a touchdown on 40 carries this season.

Senior Dontario Drummond’s five touchdowns and 460 receiving yards on 26 catches heads up the wide receiver ranks while Braylon Sander’s 24 yards per reception is proof of a deep-threat. The senior recorded 127 yards on just two catches in last week’s win over Arkansas.

Veteran Jonathan Mingo has found the end zone on three occasions this season while tight end Chase Rogers has scored once.

“The biggest challenge for us is just doing your assignment,” Taylor said. “This offense is kind of like our offense and we went up against it in the spring and in the fall. There’s a high-tempo with wide splits to the receivers.

“Matt Corral is a great quarterback who makes good decisions. We’ve got to make sure to contain him and do our assignments.”

Defensively, it’s multiple under D.J. Durkin. The squad will be in a four-down front most of the time with outside linebackers acting as defensive ends at times. The 4-2-5 look is common, but often, Ole Miss employs six defensive backs on the field at once in packaged personnel groupings.

It’s a unit that’s tallied 13 sacks with 34 tackles for loss on the season. The takeaway tally sits at eight with three interceptions and five fumble recoveries. Last week when Ole Miss escaped Arkansas, the defense allowed six touchdowns to Hogs’ quarterback K.J. Jefferson (3 pass, 3 rush).

Maryland transfer Chance Campbell is their best defensive player at mike linebacker – leading the team with 39 tackles to go along with three sacks, five tackles for loss, a forced fumble and two recoveries. Lakia Henry, Mark Robinson and MoMo Sanogo are also contributors.

Up front, Sam Williams and Cedric Johnson are the edge players with the former leading the team in sacks with five. JUCO transfers Isaiah Iton and KD Hill – along with freshman Tywone Malone – man up the interior.

Defensive back Otis Reese ties for the team-lead in tackles from the STAR position while versatile athlete Keidron Smith registers two picks.

Overall, the Ole Miss defense allows nearly 200 yards on the ground. Last week was a big let-down in that category as Arkansas ran for 350 yards in the close loss on the road. Opponents are averaging 4.3 yards a carry against the Rebels.

“They are playing with six defensive backs and are multiple on the back-end. Their fits, too,” Heupel said of the Ole Miss defense. “They have done a great job of creating turnovers as far as fumbles – they do a great job of punching it and ripping it out.

“They haven’t given up a lot of big-time, over-the-top plays. They play soft on the back-end a little bit. We have to be highly-efficient on offense. It starts in the run-game and we have to make plays on the perimeter.”

It’s setting up to be a great atmosphere at Neyland Stadium Saturday night. It’ll serve as the first home night game with two explosive offenses going toe-to-toe. Plenty of recruits and several commits will be on-hand and Tennessee fans are likely to be loud in welcoming Kiffin back to Rocky Top.

As for the players, though, it’s another chance to win a football game. And keeping the winning alive starts today and carries out through Friday.

“We’ll be ready to play on Saturday,” Taylor concluded. “I feel like just from practice today and workouts – I feel like we are really focused and locked in. In the film room, there was a lot of guys asking questions. It’s just players too – player led. So, we will be ready come Saturday.”

Get your popcorn ready.

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