Ole Miss Football: 5 overreactions from Rebels’ loss to Cal

1. Shea Patterson not ready to be elite

During Saturday night’s loss against Cal, Shea Patterson looked more human as the game progressed. Despite throwing two first-half touchdowns, Patterson was responsible for three turnovers, all interceptions, and couldn’t move the Rebels down the field much in the second half.

Does this mean he’s not ready to be elite? Absolutely not. Just look at his video game-like numbers through the first three games of the year, albeit against average, at best, competition. In fact, he has thrown for 1,281 yards and 11 touchdowns with four interceptions.

On top of those impressive numbers, he has completed 70 percent of his passes and looks calm in the pocket, for the most part. Sure, it was his first game against Power Five competition this year and he looked frazzled in the second half, but he can’t be responsible for his defense allowed 20 points — although scoring zero didn’t help.

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Patterson has plenty of time to prove himself as one of the rising stars in college football and even during his worst game of the year, he passed for 363 yards and two touchdowns. He will learn from the mistakes.