On Monday, Hugh Freeze expressed concerns about scouting the Boise State defense and how Ole Miss would make adjustments. It took three quarters of anemic offensive production for the adjustments to take, but, eventually, they did.
After using 56 plays on offense to score just seven points through 45 minutes of game clock, the Rebels rallied off 28 points on just nine plays in a 35-13 victory.
“They are a good defense, but we did a lot to hurt ourselves,” Freeze said. “We’ve got a lot to get cleaned up but at the end of the day we are excited to be going back to Oxford at 1-0. The looks they gave us were quite different than what we expected. They gave us a lot of problems early on.”
Freeze was quick to point out penalties as a major issue for Ole Miss in the first half, especially with the offensive line. The Rebels committed 14 penalties for a total of 78 yards. almost exclusively on false starts.
“I thought they (offensive line) did a good job at protecting Bo at times, but it is hard to do anything when you are playing behind the chains,” Freeze said. “There were some noise issues and that’s my fault. I didn’t have the prepared enough.”
It became apparent early on that Boise State was sold out on stopping the Ole Miss rushing attack. Quarterback Bo Wallace was called to throw early and often, but was unable to find his sync, tossing three first half interceptions.
“Two of his interceptions were unbelievable,” Freeze said. “They were not in the progression of the route. It was amazing. He was out of synch in the first half.”
In the fourth quarter, Wallace found his sync and led the Rebels to the touchdowns on four straight possessions. The senior found three different receivers on passes of 14, 31 and 76 yards for scores. The defense held true as it did for the majority of the game, and Ole Miss cruised to a 22 point win.
Wallace finished the evening completing 25 of 36 for 387 yards and four touchdowns. Leading the receivers were Laquon Treadwell and Cody Core. Treadwell hauled in seven passes for 105 yards and touchdown while Core caught four balls for 110 yards and two scores.
Ole Miss will travel to Nashville next Saturday to open SEC play against Vanderbilt. The game, which is being played at the Tennessee Titans’ LP Field, will be carried by ESPN and is scheduled to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. CT. The Rebels home opener against Louisiana-Lafayette on September 13th has been picked up by the SEC Network and will start at 3:00 pm.
The Numbers
OFFENSE
First Downs: 22
Rushing Yards: 71
Yards Per Rush: 2.1
Passing Yards: 387
Yards Per Completion: 15.5
Total Yards: 458
Yards Per Play: 6.5
Third Downs 5 of 13
Time of Possession 23:46
Red Zone Offense Scored on 2 of 4 chances
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Wallace 25 of 36, 387 yds, 3 INT, 4 TDs
Core 4 rec., 110 yds, 2 TDs
Treadwell 7 rec., 105 yds, 1 TD
Engram 4 rec., 41 yds
Walton 3 rec., 51 yds
DEFENSE
Team Stats
Rushing: 135
Yards Per Rush: 3.6
Rushing TDs: 0
Passing: 264
Yards Per Completion: 7.3
Passing TDs: 1
Total Yards: 399
Yards Per Play: 4.7
Interceptions 4
Third Downs 5 of 15
Time of Possession: 36:14
Red Zone Defense: Allowed scores on 2 of 3 chances
Individual Stats
Prewitt 8 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 INT
Shackelford 5 tackles, 1 sack
Conner 6 tackles. 1 TFL, 1 INT
Golson 8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT
Johnson 4 tackles, 1 INT
