WATCH: Ole Miss Rebels, fans ready for return to The Grove
The Ole Miss Rebels are ready to ride into their season home opener and just released their hype video to show that they’re ready to put on a show this season.
Last season for the Rebels
For Ole Miss, last season was the first of the Lane Kiffin era. The Rebels finished off the season with a 4-5 record. And even though they had less than five wins, they were invited to play in the Outback Bowl against the Big Ten’s Indiana Hoosiers. Indiana entered the game ranked No. 7 in the nation, but that did not matter to the Rebels. Ole Miss went on to win the game 26-20. It was just the second time in the season that they held an opponent to 21 points or fewer.
Their defense as a whole was a weak spot for the Rebels. They allowed 38.3 points per game and let opponents score on 43 of 49 trips to the red zone. As good as Ole Miss’ offense was, their defense was as equally bad. They averaged 210 yards rushing a game, while their defense gave up 206 rushing yards a game.
High octane offense
Heading into this season’s offense is the strength of this team. Last year the team averaged 39.4 points per game on offense. That was led by the solid play at quarterback by Matt Corral. The quarterback passed for over 3,300 yards and rushed for another 500. He had a total of 33 combined touchdowns on the season. Last year’s leading receiver, Elijah Moore, is now playing for the New York Jets. But it appears that senior wideout Dontario Drummond is taking over that role. In the game against Louisville, he had nine catches for 177 yards and a touchdown.
The Rebels kicked off the season away from him in a natural site matchup against the Louisville Cardinals at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a game they won soundly by a score of 43-24. Although that was classified as a home game for Ole Miss, their official home opener will be this weekend. The Rebels will be back home at Vaught Hemingway Stadium to take on Austin Peay, of the Ohio Valley Conference. Both teams head into the matchup fresh of wins in their week one openers. Austin Peavy beat Tennesse Chattanooga on the road last Thursday 30-20. Ole Miss enters the game ranked 20th in both the AP and coaches poll.
The game will start at 7:30 pm EST and can be viewed ESPN+.