Ole Miss Football: 3 Takeaways from win against Kentucky

2. Chris Rodriguez’s return did not open the passing game for the Wildcats

Will Levis had played well this season but had been sacked 16 times through the first four games. Rodriguez’s return was supposed to help the passing game by forcing the defense to play an extra safety in the box and force man coverage. Levis did throw for 220 yards and two touchdowns, but that statistic is a bit deceiving.

51 of those 220 yards came on one throw late in the game. That pass was the only throw over 20 yards for the Wildcats on the day. Give the Rebels’ defense credit; they did an excellent job of moving Levis off his platform or forcing him to get rid of the football sooner than he wanted. Even though he threw two touchdowns, Levis did not have a rhythm for the entire game.

One of the reasons the passing game did not get going was because the running game never really got going.

Give credit to the Rebels’ defense once again here. Ole Miss football contained the running game without bringing safeties down to overload the box. They could not run on the defensive formations the Wildcats should have been able to have success against.