Coming off their first loss of the year in Baton Rouge, No. 4 Ole Miss looks to bounce back in Oxford against No. 3 Auburn Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Ole Miss suffered its first loss and was banged up injury wise against LSU a week ago and fell 10-7 in an upset. Who would have thought that LSU beating Ole Miss was an upset? Not me.
Here’s the (thankfully) short list of injuries:
1. Laremy Tunsil
2. Robert Nkemdiche
3. Denzel Nkemdiche
4. Ben Still
5. Cody Prewitt
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All are going to attempt to play this week against Auburn except two. Ben Still is still a question mark, and Denzel Nkemdiche is out for the year with an ankle issue. The rest have upper body issues and Coach Hugh Freeze said if they can play with the pain, they will go.
The key to victory for Ole Miss is they have to regain a presence on the line of scrimmage like they were doing early in the year. Earlier in the year Ole Miss was able to get a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks and they were able to protect Bo Wallace on offense. That wasn’t the case in Baton Rouge, and LSU was able to run the ball with success and get pressure on the Rebel QB.
The play calling got conservative for the Rebels during the game at times, and they weren’t taking shots down field. They didn’t beat Alabama by running down the middle. They beat Alabama by being aggressive and taking shots. Everyone likes shots!
This is a must win for both teams to stay alive in the race for the SEC West, and boy what a game it will be. Tune it at 7 ET/6 CT on ESPN for round one of the College Football Playoff live from Oxford.
For full postgame recap, follow the Rebels at www.OLEMISSSPORTS.com.
Connor Hennessey is a writer and radio host in Oxford, Miss. He can be reached by email at cmhennes@go.olemiss.edu or @ConnorHennes on Twitter. Visit OleMissSports.com for up-to-date information pertaining to the Ole Miss Rebels.
