Ole Miss Football: What almost went wrong in win vs. Southern Illinois?

For three quarters, it looked like Ole Miss football was on upset alert Southern Illinois. What almost went wrong for the Rebels in Week 2?

Ole Miss beat Southern Illinois 76-41 to improve to 2-0 on the season. However, this game wasn’t as easy as that score would lead one to believe. The Rebels struggled on defense from the start of the match up, unable to put a stop to the Southern Illinois offense.

Their offense, led by Jordan Ta’amu, did just fine- as is obvious by the offensive output shown here. Almost 650 yards of offense later, and the Rebels are 2-0. However, that level of offense won’t be there when they host Alabama a week from today. DK Metcalf and AJ Brown can’t carry this team when half of the team doesn’t seem to show up.

Yes, this team outscored their opponent 41-3 in the second half. Yes, they showed once again that they are one of the most high powered offenses in the SEC.

However, this game was almost really really bad for the Rebels. What went wrong? Defense, that’s what.

The “Land Sharks” didn’t seem to want to play it. I am not sure if they were doing their best impression of the Texas Tech team they played the week before or if the unit just didn’t get off the bus, but it was bad.

They need to do a lot better than what they showed today next week if they are wanting to give Alabama any kind of run for their money. As it stands right now, this team won’t last a quarter against the Crimson Tide. They will simply be another notch in the belt of the Crimson Tide- something I can promise you that Matt Luke and the Rebels don’t want to be.