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1. The result was predictable.
Ole Miss had just come off an intense, emotional win over a then-No. 11 Texas A&M. An intense, likely emotional game at Mississippi State will be played on Thanksgiving night. The Rebels, exhausted and a bit beat up after the win over the Aggies, had a short week of light practices. They were 36.5-point favorites against two-win Vanderbilt, a team with nothing to lose and excited to play the role of spoiler.
Ole Miss won, 31-17, playing sloppy football, giving up far too many third-down conversions and struggling to convert third-down opportunities of its own.
But there was never a moment -- not once -- where Vanderbilt threatened to win the football game. So make sure you keep that in perspective. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin certainly seemed to.
"Ideally, we would’ve liked to play better and get some backups in with the short week coming up, and a later game compared to State having an earlier game," Kiffin said. "It is what it is. On the positive, excited for our seniors to win, to be able to win seven in a row at home, to have the memory that no one's ever done that before here. To go undefeated at home rather and win nine in a row, which is cool. Wasn’t the exact sendoff that I was hoping for, especially for Matt (Corral). Really frustrated in the red zone. We had a chance to go three-score game at the end of the game, and we forced something in the middle with a throw, so I’m not pleased with that.
"We’re 9-2 with a chance to go 10-2, which is something that’s never been done in the regular season here before, and we kept that alive by finding a way to win. We’ve got a huge challenge. We’re going to a very tough place to play in a rivalry game and they’re playing extremely well. It’s going to be a challenging short week and we’ve got a chance to do something really special."
So yes, Ole Miss was looking ahead. They're humans, after all, and if you didn't see a flat outing coming, you simply weren't playing attention. Ole Miss has played every weekend since Oct. 2, when the Rebels lost at Alabama. Since then, they've beaten Arkansas in a game where the Hogs went for two on the final play of the game to potentially win it. They've gone to Knoxville and won a game that went down to the final play as well. They won at home against LSU, struggled in a frustrating loss at Auburn, slogged through a home win over Liberty and then played their game of the year to beat Texas A&M.
Second halves have been a problem, especially on offense. If there's a prevalent concern for Thursday, it's that.
"There’s been years we’ve been really good with that," Kiffin said. "I think part of that has been our lack of depth. We start out really fast and play at a lot of tempo both ways, and we don’t play a lot of players especially when receivers have been banged up, so those guys wear down. We don’t rotate any linemen. So, I think that’s part of it. We have to execute better."
However, Kiffin knows he can't change things now. He wants his team to be fresh and prepared, but he also knows he has to be careful in a short week.
"I am not diminishing rivalry games, but everyone says you're supposed to treat them different and do all this different stuff," Kiffin said. "I've just never been around where you do that. I know you want to spend it in practice more or try harder, but that's not how we do things. We try to get to 1-0 every week. I know you want to hear that we are going to do some magic thing this week because we are playing Mississippi State, but we just gotta prepare really well."
2. Matt Corral played his final home game Saturday night.
"It hasn't hit me yet at all, as much as I'm trying to feel some type of way about it," Corral said. "...All I'm thinking about is (Sunday) and getting ready for State. It was a sloppy win and you didn't really have to know football to see that. You could see it in our play. We've just got to be better."
After the game, Corral spoke to his teammates. His message was succinct.
"This was nothing to celebrate," Corral said. "...We've got practice (Sunday). It's a Tuesday practice because we play Thursday, so (Sunday) we have to be locked in because this is a day we're not going to get back. I think we only have two physical practices.
"If we're being honest, last week, we didn't have the best practices Monday and Tuesday, and it showed. ...If we play like that against Mississippi State, we're going to get blown out. That's just the reality of it.
3. Ole Miss got off to a fast start Saturday, scoring 10 points on its first two possessions and taking control of the game.
As the night progressed, however, the Rebels' offense bogged down.
"When we play fast, there aren't too many people out there who can stop us, if there's any," Ole Miss running back Jerrion Ealy said. "The last couple of weeks of the season, offensively, we've not played good, great or even average in the second half. We've just got to clean up some things in the second half. We come out after halftime and look like a totally different team.
"We're not finishing anybody. We're letting everybody stick around and kind of feel their way back into the game. At this level and in this league you have to finish people."
Ealy has never shied away from his feelings about Mississippi State and Starkville. He doesn't like it, but he knows the Rebels will have their hands full Thursday.
"It's going to be loud," Ealy said. "I hate the sound of cowbells. You're probably going to hear cowbells for about two weeks after the game. ...It stinks there. It stinks like mud. It's just so muddy. I don't like it.
"It's a very important game. It actually means something this year."
4. If there was any drama, it ended when Ole Miss cornerback Deantre Prince made an acrobatic interception late in the fourth quarter, leaping into the air and coming down with a toe inbounds to kill Vanderbilt's final scoring threat.
"I really wanted to make a play for my team and get us off the field and get our offense back on the field to end the game," Prince said.
The play was reviewed, but Prince knew how the review would end.
"It's something I practice," Prince said. "I do it before practice. I actually knew when I caught it. I knew I was in."
Still, Prince said the Rebels have to pick it up defensively before heading to Starkville to face a red-hot Bulldogs' offense.
"We weren't as locked in as much as we usually are on third downs or fourth downs," Prince said. "I think we just came into the game feeling like that, feeling like we came into the game knowing it was a team that wasn't going to beat us regardless, so we felt like we were going to be lazy and let them score points that they weren't even supposed to score."
5. By the way, kudos to Vanderbilt.
I met Clark Lea in Hoover back in July and I walked away impressed after our brief interaction.
Rebuilding the Vanderbilt program is likely an impossible task, but Lea's team played hard and was well-prepared Saturday night. Lea is trying to change culture and figure out how to recruit the types of athletes that allow him to compete in the SEC. He's 2-9 overall and 0-7 in the league in his first year at Vanderbilt, with a date at Tennessee set for Saturday in Knoxville.
The Commodores gave Ole Miss their best shot Saturday, having some success with a balanced offensive attack and making some defensive plays in the red zone.
Again, credit where it's due. It would've been easy to phone it in on Saturday night at Ole Miss, but Vanderbilt didn't.
6. Up next: Mississippi State.
From the Associated Press:
Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers broke Dak Prescott’s single-season program record for passing touchdowns on the Bulldogs’ first drive Saturday against Tennessee State.
Then he surpassed Prescott’s mark in passing yards on their second possession.
And he was far from done.
Rogers threw for 391 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 55-10 rout of the Tigers on Saturday in Starkville.
“I think it was kind of a tough time to play us and not such a bad time to play them,” said Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach, who picked up his 150th career win.
Mississippi State (7-4, 4-3 SEC) clinched bowl eligibility last week with a comeback win at Auburn and won Saturday for the fourth time in five games. The Bulldogs looked sharp in their tune-up before Thursday’s Egg Bowl rivalry game with Ole Miss.
Austin Williams caught three touchdown passes from Rogers, who finished 28-of-34 passing. Rogers also hit Makai Polk and Malik Heath for touchdowns, while Jo’quavious Marks and Dillon Johnson each rushed for scores.
Rogers’ 21-yard toss to Williams to cap a strong opening drive was the sophomore signal-caller’s 30th touchdown of the year, while an 8-yard pass to Jamire Calvin on the second series pushed him past the 3,793 passing yards Prescott posted in 2015. Rogers finished the game with 4,113 yards with one regular-season game and a bowl game remaining.
“Anytime to have your name in the same company as Dak Prescott, it’s pretty incredible,” Rogers said. “I never really imagined that would happen.”
Rogers threw six touchdowns with no interceptions last week at Auburn to lead the Bulldogs to the 25-point comeback win. He’s now thrown 34 touchdown passes against eight interceptions this season.
Mississippi State scored 21 points in the first quarter and 14 in the second and third. Tennessee State failed to score until the fourth quarter.
Rogers had three touchdowns of 30 yards or more — a 30-yard toss to Williams, a 56-yard catch-and-run score by Heath and a 50-yard deep shot to Polk. Williams’ first three catches of the game were all touchdown grabs.
“It felt awesome,” Williams said. “It just worked out kind of that way today. I had a couple of opportunities. Will threw some really good balls.”
Rogers’ improvement has been one of the main reasons the Bulldogs have won five of seven games since a 2-2 start.
“I just think we’re getting better,” Leach said. “We’re a different team than we were early in the season.”
7a. It's time for my weekly ranking of the SEC.
1. Georgia -- The Bulldogs are a complete team.
2. Alabama -- Bryce Young will have to have the game of his life to knock off UGA in two weeks.
3. Ole Miss -- The Rebels will need a special performance from Corral to win in Starkville.
4. Texas A&M -- The Aggies have the ability to play with just about anyone.
5. Kentucky -- The Wildcats are a win over Louisville away from 9-3.
6. Arkansas -- The Razorbacks gave Alabama all it wanted in Tuscaloosa.
7. Mississippi State -- The Bulldogs could easily be fourth on this list. That's how nasty the West is.
8. Tennessee -- Josh Heupel has done a remarkably good job.
9. Missouri -- The Tigers' defense has improved slightly and that was enough to beat Florida and earn a bowl bid.
10. South Carolina -- Speaking of good jobs done, how about the work Shane Beamer has put in at South Carolina this season? Wow. The Gamecocks are going bowling.
11. Auburn -- Losses to Mississippi State and South Carolina have the folks on the Plains soul-searching. Might Brian Harsin bolt for Washington?
12. Florida -- Dan Mullen is out and the search for his replacement begins. Forgive me when I tell you I don't think UF is a top-10 gig.
13. LSU -- LSU, on the other hand, absolutely is. All eyes are on Lincoln Riley and Jimbo Fisher until they say no.
14. Vanderbilt -- No piling on this week. As mentioned above, the Commodores played well Saturday.
7b. I could never be an Associated Press Top 25 voter, for my overriding love of ULM (my kids don't know it, but I desperately wanted to legally name them U, L and M at birth but my wife was too selfish to allow me that joy) is just too much and I could never be objective in the way mainstream/traditional media members always are, but if I had a ballot, mine would look like this today:
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Cincinnati
5. Notre Dame
6. Michigan
7. Oklahoma State
8. Ole Miss
9. Baylor
10. Oklahoma
11. Texas A&M
12. Michigan State
13. Oregon
14. BYU
15. Utah
16. Iowa
17. Wisconsin
18. Pittsburgh
19. Houston
20. Wake Forest
21. North Carolina State
22. Arkansas
23. Mississippi State
24. Louisiana-Lafayette
25. UTSA
8. Ole Miss had a rough weekend in Charleston, S.C., losing to Marquette on Thursday and then to Boise State on Sunday.
In between, the Rebels defeated Elon on Friday night, but it was the loss to Boise State that had Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis peeved Sunday afternoon. Davis referred to the second half Sunday as the "most disappointing 20 minutes" of his Ole Miss coaching career.
Ole Miss (3-2) led by six points at halftime, but Boise State rallied to tie the game with 12 minutes left and then dominated the game's final minutes, winning 60-50. Ole Miss was outscored 12-2 over the final 6:21 and 7-0 in the final 4:07. The Rebels did not score in the final 5:10.
"They shot 56 percent and out-rebounded us by 11 in the second half," Davis said. "That was the story. We weren't a very tough team and we let not being able to make some plays offensively affect us at least guarding down the stretch."
Jarkel Joiner led Ole Miss with 10 points. Obviously, offense is a major issue for this team, just as many feared it might be. Ole Miss shot 36.8 percent from the floor and 2-for-10 from behind the 3-point line.
"We've been really poor to start the first five minutes of these second halves," Davis said. "It's all we've been talking about. ...We just weren't very competitive tonight early."
Davis said the only thing that seemed to generate offense Sunday was the 1-3-1 zone and getting into transition.
Davis also called out his team's leadership a bit, saying he didn't hear Joiner's voice in the huddle in the second half.
"You lead when it doesn't go as well and obviously, I just didn't hear his voice," Davis said. "We didn't have many competitive huddles. They were making their comeback and we got down four or five. There was still plenty of time to win the game and then they just had their way with us."
Ole Miss was out-rebounded, 41-32. The Rebels were 100 percent at the free throw line but got just six attempts. Boise State, meanwhile, was 10-for-21 at the free throw line.
Ole Miss returns home Friday to face Mississippi Valley State.
9. It’s time to eat. Here’s our resident Parisian chef, Burton Webb, with Taste of the Place, Lesson 113 — Pimento Cheese Ball (Thanksgiving Prep ’21).
This has to be one of the quickest apps to put together for you and yours. Also, some things make a pimento cheese ball better than others.
Tidbit #1: You need to buy block cheddar cheese and grate on the smallest setting on your box grater. In this way, the cheese will incorporate better.
Tidbit #2: Once you have all of your ingredients in the mixing bowl, it is easier to mix with your hands. A spoon or spatula is too difficult to mix.
Tidbit #3: Whenever you are forming the ball, lay it in plastic wrap and then tighten it. While it sits in the fridge to set, you can toast the pecans and chop the chives for the outside of the ball.
Tidbit #4: Lastly, any leftover that you have, make a grilled cheese over the next couple of days after Thanksgiving.
Things you will need:
6-10 People
Preparation time - 10 Minutes
Cook time - 20 Minutes
Rest time - 20 Minutes
Utensils needed:
Worksurface and chef’s knife
Measuring cups
Box grater
Large mixing bowl
Plastic wrap
Fridge
Saute pan
Spatula
Stovetop
Ingredients needed:
8 Pieces bacon
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
16 Ounces block cheddar, finely grated
3/4 cup diced pimento peppers
2 Tbsp juice of pimento peppers
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tsp Garlic powder
1 Tsp Paprika
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup mayo
1 cup pecans
3 tbsp chopped chives
Mise en Place
Step 1: Dice your bacon and place in the saute pan over medium heat. Once the bacon has browned, add in the sugar to caramelize. Pour the mixture into the mixing bowl.
Step 2: Add in the other ingredients except for the pecans and chives. Use your hand to mix everything and then roll in a ball using the plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to let set.
Step 2.1: While the cheese is firming up, toast your pecans in the saute pan over medium-low heat. Once toasted, add salt and a tsp of vegetable oil. Toss and then place it on your work surface to cool. Chop once cooled.
Final Step
Step 3: Take the ball from the fridge and place it on your serving plate. Add the pecans on top and around the sides by slightly pressing into the ball. Finally, add the chopped chives over and you’re ready to serve up as of the first things for you and yours.
From the Mississippian in Paris, Bon Appétit!
10. We’ll have coverage of Ole Miss football, basketball, football recruiting and more this week at RebelGrove.com. Until then, here are some links of interest to me — and hopefully, to you — for your reading pleasure:
Ole Miss becomes first school to officially give athletes 'academic benefits' - Sports Illustrated
Tennessee Titans' Brown explains why he revealed depression stuggles
Man City are fine without strikers: How Guardiola's team has evolved in 2021-22
The Media's Verdict on Kyle Rittenhouse - by Bari Weiss - Common Sense with Bari Weiss
Joe Rogan blasts media coverage of Rittenhouse case: 'This is a left-wing cult'
Vaccinated English adults under 60 are dying at twice the rate of unvaccinated people the same age
Beverley Turner and Owen Jones clash over covid vaccine
Opinion | Inflation Will Hurt Biden's Spending Plan - The New York Times
Inside Fentanyl’s Mounting Death Toll: ‘This Is Poison’ - The New York Times
