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Ole Miss Football: Rebels set to throw it around vs Louisiana Monroe

By Justin Heisey

BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 29: Quarterback Jordan Ta'amu #10 of the Mississippi Rebels throws the ball during the third quarter against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 29: Quarterback Jordan Ta'amu #10 of the Mississippi Rebels throws the ball during the third quarter against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Marianna Massey/Getty Images) /
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Ole Miss football returns to their home looking for a bounce-back win against the Caleb Evans led Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks.

The Rebels haven’t looked like themselves on defense this season. The Landshark defense is aptly named due to the fact that a beached shark might have better luck at stopping an offense than the defensive unit Matt Luke was left with.

Ole Miss currently ranks 127th nationally and if it weren’t for Oregon State, they’d have the worst defense in the Power Five. They also allow 38+ points per game and the only positive thing the defense has going for them is that they at least force more turnovers than the offense gives away.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Rebels rank 19th in passing offense behind the arm of Jordan Ta’amu and one of the best receiving corps in all of college football. The ground game has even looked good most weeks behind the top JUCO running back prospect in the 2018 class, Scottie Phillips, who has 563 yards on the season with an astounding 7.2 yard per carry. They’ve seemed to have had problems scoring in higher profile games with a combined 23 points against Alabama and LSU.

ULM really has one thing going for them, Caleb Evans. Evans is currently 27th nationally in total offense and averages over six yards per play anytime he touches a football. Louisiana-Monroe averages just over 400 yards of total offense per game and Evans himself is responsible for just under 300 of that on his own from week to week. The defense isn’t much to talk about while they give up 471 yards per game which is 471st nationally (which is still less than Ole Miss is giving up).

Can ULM upset the Ole Miss Rebels?

Date: Saturday, September 6, 2018
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Oxford, Mississippi
Venue: Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Live Stream: SEC Network+

Players To Watch

Ole Miss

Louisiana-Monroe

Keys to Victory

Ole Miss just needs to score. ULM isn’t necessarily the toughest of the group of five teams so Ole Miss should be able to stroll to victory in this one. If Ta’amu can’t get the passing game going against the 121st ranked pass defense, then maybe Scottie Phillips can score on the 87th ranked run defense. The Warhawk offense revolves around one player so if the defense can do anything stop Caleb Evans from being productive they need to stick with it.

Ah ULM, it’s going to be a long day. The Warhawks are going to need to suddenly come forth with vastly improved passing defense and some resemblance of a pass rush if they expect to win. On top of that, Caleb Evans will need to have a career day against a lackluster Ole Miss team on the ground and through the air and somehow manage to win in a shootout.

Betting Odds

Points Spread: ULM -21.5

Over/Under: 75.5

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Prediction

I like that Vegas set the over/under high on this one because both teams actually have the ability to score really well. Ole Miss wins hands down and likely covers, but don’t expect the Warhawks to score less than 20 points.

Final Score: Ole Miss 49 ULM 28

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