It was fourth and one halfway through the second quarter when the Ulysses Bentley playing time situation hit its fever pitch.
The Rebels, needing a spark after a dominant 20 minutes but only having a three-point advantage, gave it to Bentley, who started left, cut right and raced past the LSU secondary for a 50-yard touchdown.
Bentley enthusiastically celebrated in the end zone, and Lane Kiffin immediately found running backs coach Kevin Smith, pointing and yelling at the assistant, though it was impossible to know the words or connotation.
LSU eventually won 29-26 in overtime, as Ole Miss missed multiple scoring chances and looked disjointed offensively for portions of the evening. The second loss in three weeks during this “Last Dance” season brought the Bentley deal into full focus again.
Bentley was expected to be the top replacement for Quinshon Judkins after the latter left for Ohio State in the offseason. The SMU transfer ran for 540 yards on 95 carries a year ago as a change-of-pace option.
Instead, Henry Parrish, who played at Ole Miss for two seasons, transferred to Miami for two seasons with Smith and then transferred back for this year, has been the primary ball carrier. Walk-on Matt Jones, prior to Saturday, was the No. 2 running back option.
Kiffin has consistently said Bentley did nothing wrong to not get playing time; he’s said Parrish and Jones were the better options. On Thursday, during Reb Talk, Kiffin lightly called out a running back question as a “Bentley question” but indicated the sixth-year player would have a bigger role with Jones out with injury.
The Jones injury, seemingly, forced Ole Miss’ hand to play Bentley, and he responded with 11 carries for 107 yards and that 50-yard score. Even without the long run, Bentley averaged 5.7 yards per carry on the 10 other rushes and 15 total snaps. He caught his one target for five yards.
Bentley had only 18 total offensive snaps this season entering Saturday, not playing in either of the two other SEC games and mostly getting mop-up carries in the nonconference. He had 14 runs and 17 total touches before Baton Rouge.
Parrish has been mostly fine to solid, rushing for 611 yards on 105 carries. He’s averaged 4.8 yards per carry, 3.9 yards per carry and 2.9 yards per carry, respectively, in three SEC games. A critical fumble led to three LSU points at the end of the first half. He carried it 14 times for 42 yards on Saturday. He's a needed option; it's the discrepancy that's the question.
Parrish has 48 SEC rushes and 53 SEC touches. Jones rushed three times for eight yards against Kentucky and 10 times for 13 yards against South Carolina. He’s a hard worker and a college football success story as a person, but the eye test doesn’t indicate he’s a better option than Bentley.
Kiffin has alluded to pass blocking as one of the reasons Parrish and Jones have gotten all the touches in front of Bentley. PFF College has its flaws, but it’s the best we have to grade pass blocking with player against player.
Against LSU, Bentley, per PFF college, didn’t allow a pressure in six pass-block snaps. On the season he’s allowed one in nine opportunities; it came in his only pass-block snap against Furman in the opener. PFF College gave Bentley a 62.2 pass-block grade on Saturday which is considered average.
Parrish has graded 51.0, 70.6 and 25.6 in the three SEC games, with that 25 score the result of two sacks allowed in six pass-block snaps against LSU. He’d only allowed one pressure on the season prior to Saturday. Ole Miss is leaving Parrish in to block on 24 percent of the pass plays with him in the game.
Last season, Ole Miss left Bentley in to block on 19 percent of the pass plays.
Jones, to his credit, hasn’t allowed a pressure in 19 pass-block snaps.
History and visible performance haven’t matched with Kiffin’s words about the running back situation. He said multiple times the choice had nothing to do with injury or off-field issues, and there’s no sign of either of those things. The numbers against LSU added another bit of evidence that it’s been a strange decision – one that allows for wondering if the result in either loss would be different with a different rotation.
Ole Miss has an open date before a three-game stretch against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Georgia before another bye week and the close of at Florida and Mississippi State at home.
The Rebels likely can’t lose again to have any hope of the College Football Playoff, the focus that has been the audible goal since the end of last season. Winning out also doesn’t make it a certainty considering the strength of schedule and quality wins under that hypothetical.
Losses bring about second guessing and further examinations. It’s the way of things. But the Bentley will-he or won’t-he has been in plain sight since the start of the season.
We’ve consistently said we’re not at practice and at some point you take Kiffin at his word or you don’t. That’s up to each of you individually.
However, the eyes, the data and the lack of results relative to expectations are all real things. And that’s what Ole Miss is sitting with for what will be a long 14 days until it again takes the field.
