SEC Football: Spring 2019 storylines for every SEC team

Ole Miss: Moving forward from bowl ban and replacing a lot of offensive production

The clock now begins ticking for Matt Luke in Oxford as the two-year bowl ban has been lifted and the Rebels are once again eligible for postseason play. Despite boasting a talented offense, Ole Miss finished 2018 5-7 due to an abysmal defense.

The Rebs finished 90th in defensive S&P+; they were 110th against the run and 92nd against the pass, routinely getting carved up by even middling offenses. They stayed competitive in most games, though, thanks to an offense that finished the year 6th in offensive S&P+.

Now that a large chunk of that offense is gone, where does Ole Miss go from here? Gone is QB Jordan Ta’amu and a trio of talented wideouts – A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, and DaMarkus Lodge – as well as TE Dawson Knox and three starters on the offensive line, including star left tackle Greg Little.

Redshirt freshman Matt Corral is a talented quarterback who flashed potential in limited action last season, and senior Scottie Phillips returns coming off of a 900+ yard season as a junior, but with so much talent moving to the next level, it’s not realistic to expect the Rebels to duplicate last season’s offensive numbers.

That means the onus will be on the defense to make major strides in order for Ole Miss to challenge for bowl eligibility. Ole Miss returns nine starters on defense, but that’s not necessarily a good thing after last season’s struggles. There’s some talent on the roster though, led by junior DT Benito Jones, who has the makings of an All-SEC player.

Former Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre will be tasked with fixing the Rebels’ defensive woes, and he’ll be making an immediate schematic change flipping from a 4-3 front to a base 3-4. With the offense in transition, it will take a significant improvement defensively for the Rebels to garner bowl eligibility in a loaded SEC West and with out-of-conference matchups at Memphis and at home against Cal.

Luke got a pass in his first season with the interim tag removed, fighting through the bowl ban and scholarship reductions. The clock now begins ticking.