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I don’t know about Heisman moments and all of that.
There are so many uncontrollable variables that determine who wins that award each December.
I do know this: Matt Corral is a star. He will be the face of an NFL franchise. He’s got all the tools to win at the professional level — the arm, the athleticism, the feet, the speed, etc.
In the event anyone still doubted whether Corral had the intangibles to compete and excel in the NFL, he silenced those Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Corral, already playing on a bum ankle, aggravated the injury with 1:32 left in the first quarter. The Rebels were down, 14-3, at that point, and Corral was eventually carted off the sideline and into the locker room, presumably for X-rays.
Shortly thereafter, Corral returned to the field, taking over for Luke Altmyer on an ongoing drive. He finished it off with a touchdown run, cutting Auburn’s lead to 14-10.
However, there was no Hollywood ending.
Instead, Ole Miss’ defense couldn’t get Auburn off the field, and the Tigers took a 28-17 lead into intermission. Dontario Drummond, such a huge part of Ole Miss’ offense with Jonathan Mingo out and Braylon Sanders very limited, appeared to suffer a hamstring injury and didn’t return, except to serve as a decoy late in the third quarter on a trick play.
Ole Miss’ receiving corps in the second half appeared to consist of Miles Battle, Dannis Jackson, Jadon Jackson, John Rhys Plumlee, Jahcour Pearson and Casey Kelly. That’s not the recipe for #ScoreFromFar.
Throw in penalties at inopportune times, some footwork issues from Corral that led to some inaccurate throws and a storybook ending just wasn’t in the cards.
Instead, the 10th-ranked Rebels fall to the 18th-ranked Tigers, 31-20. Ole Miss is now 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn (6-2, 3-1) still controls its own destiny in the SEC West.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, is now playing for bowl placement. That sucks in the moment. A win on the Plains would’ve let the Rebels slip into November playing for big things.
As it was, it was an incredibly gutsy effort for Ole Miss, one that simply had too many obstacles to overcome.
When Corral threw his second interception of the season, a bad decision with 9:01 left that ended an Ole Miss scoring opportunity, the game was essentially over. He probably deserved a better outcome, but football isn’t always fair.
Speaking of fairness and/or a lack thereof, the SEC has to do something about officiating. I’m not going to sit here and do the fanboy thing of declaring the fix to be in or anything like that, but the officiating is atrocious. It feeds conspiracy theories and takes away from the overall product.
On Saturday night, it was was simply bad. There’s no other way to say it. It was inexcusably bad. Did it cost Ole Miss a football game? No, I personally don’t think so. Officiating wasn’t the reason Ole Miss got gashed at the line of scrimmage on defense in the first half. Officiating didn’t injure Drummond’s hamstring and so severely limit Ole Miss’ offensive personnel. Officiating didn’t blow coverages or jump offsides in critical moments.
But damn, it’s bad. I’m not sure it can be fixed, but at some point, the league has to at least pretend to try to be concerned.
Oh, by the way, I know the analytics are a fun topic of conversation, but twice in the fourth quarter Saturday, Ole Miss had a chance to cut the lead with a makable field goal. Once, a kick would’ve pulled Ole Miss to within 28-23. Another time, a kick would’ve pulled Ole Miss to within 31-23. Twice, Lane Kiffin elected to go for a first down. Both attempts failed.
Kiffin has repeatedly said he’s prepared to be second-guessed on his reliance on analytics. I’ll simply say I don’t understand either decision Saturday night.
Where to from here? Ole Miss needs to get healthy. It’s as simple as that. The Rebels get Liberty, which improved to 7-2 Saturday with a win over Massachusetts, next Saturday at 11 a.m. It’s the first of three straight home games, including dates with Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
A 10-win season could conceivably give Ole Miss a great shot at an access bowl. A nine-win season would land the Rebels a date in a prestigious Florida bowl. In other words, there is still a ton to to play for.
There will be a lot of talk next week about Hugh Freeze’s return to Ole Miss, and while I get how the storyline is compelling, the Rebels just be focused on scoring one more point, avoiding a devastating loss and trying to get some bodies back for the stretch of three November SEC games.
For now, though, health is the subject du jour. The offensive line is decimated. The receiver corps is worse. On a night when championship and Heisman dreams — however realistic they were or were not — died, it’s the fast-compiling list of injured players that threatens to derail everything that’s left.
