On3 Things to Know: No. 9 Ole Miss sticking to single-game approach with Vanderbilt trip up next
The comedown from the high of Ole Miss’ win over Kentucky last week lasted days, not hours.
Well, for fans and media, that is.
The Rebel coaches and players quickly moved on to Vanderbilt, despite a week in which they found themselves universally ranked in the Top 10 in college football rankings and two of their freshmen (Quinshon Judkins and Micah Pettus) picked up All-SEC honors for their performances in the 22-19 win.
Basically, Lane Kiffin is doing all he can to keep his undefeated (5-0, 1-0 SEC) Rebels grounded for their trip to Nashville. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
“We spent a lot of time (Monday) morning on that,” Kiffin, who, in his two-plus Ole Miss seasons, is the fastest Rebel head coach to 20 overall wins since the legendary Johnny Vaught.
“You’ve got to prepare the same regardless. Last week, everybody built up the game and everything. Told them, it’s a faceless opponent and that. It’s not just when you play a team that’s not ranked and you’re heavily favored with. It’s both ways.”
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The Commodores (3-2, 0-1) may be traditional cellar-dwellers in the SEC East, but they’ve historically given Ole Miss fits.
Vanderbilt is Ole Miss’ the third-most played opponent all-time for of its 2022 opponents. The Commodores sit only behind bitter Ole Miss rivals Mississippi State and LSU.
While the Rebels lead the overall series (52-40-2), Vanderbilt has the edge in games played in Nashville (29-22-2). Ole Miss has won seven of the last nine, but Vanderbilt took the first 19 from 1894 to 1938, including 16 by shutout.
“Like I told them, I don’t think anybody thought Georgia was going to go in and struggle like they just did at Missouri,” Kiffin said.
“It happens every week. Every game is independent of each other. Now we teach them, as you see in our games, every quarter is independent of the quarter before, let alone games.”
Let’s dive deeper into the matchup, in game notes provided by Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations.
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SCOUTING VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt is back in action following an early-season bye week.
Guiding the Commodores offensive attack is freshman quarterback AJ Swann, who’s now started the last two games after replacing Mike Wright. Wright started the team’s first three games.
Swann will likely look often to junior wide receiver Will Sheppard, his favorite target in the passing game. Sheppard has been a difference-maker in 2022, totaling team-highs in receptions (26), receiving yards (365) and touchdowns (7). He currently ranks second in the nation with seven receiving touchdowns.
Vanderbilt, defensively, is headlined by senior linebacker Anfernee Orji.
Orji not only leads the team with 52 total tackles, but he also sits alongside some of the nation’s leading tacklers. Orji, a preseason All-SEC selection, is averaging 10.4 tackles a game, and he comes off of seasons in 2021 and in 2020 in which he finished as the Commodores’ leading tackler, tallying 93 in 2021 and 66 in 2020.
WHO RUN IT
True freshman Quinshon Judkins has made an immediate impact for an Ole Miss offense that leads the SEC and ranks No. 5 in rushing yards per game (261.8 ypg).
Judkins is Top 15 nationally in rushing yards (535), rushing yards per game (107.0) and rushing TDs (6). His 535 rushing yards are the most by any Ole Miss freshman in the first five games of the season since at least 1976.
“It’s just unique,” Kiffin said of Judkins. “You would not guess that being around him. His personality is very calm, very quiet. So you wouldn’t, personality-wise, guess that.
“The most unique we had was Troy Polamalu (at USC). He was unbelievable off the field, and then the switch would go and he would just want to knock everybody out on the field. Q kind of reminds me of that off the field.
“It’s really neat. He was raised really well.”
Judkins’ 35 missed tackles forced ranks third in FBS, according to Pro Football Focus.
His six rushing touchdowns are the most TDs (6) in a season by any SEC freshman since 2019. He has scored a TD in four of his first five collegiate games.
Ole Miss has had at least one 100-yard rusher in five straight games — a feat the program last accomplished in 1999. Judkins leads the way with three 100-yard rushing performances, while Zach Evans has two.
Judkins and Evans, a transfer from TCU, have combined for a lethal one-two punch for Ole Miss’ rushing attack.
To go along with Judkins’ production, Evans has registered 68 carries for 389 yards and four touchdowns. Judkins’ rushing yards per game lead all freshman backs and rank No. 12 in the FBS.
Ole Miss is one of just three teams (the others being Duke and Kansas) to have three players with four or more rushing TDs.
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KIFFIN GETS 20TH WIN AT OLE MISS
With the win over Kentucky on Saturday, Kiffin picked up his 20th win at Ole Miss in just 28 games on the Rebel sidelines.
He is the fastest Ole Miss coach to reach 20 wins at Ole Miss since Johnny Vaught began his Rebel career 20-7-1 over the course of 28 games (1947-49). He’s the second-fastest Rebel coach to reach the 20-win plateau behind Harry Mehre who won 20 games in just 24 contests (20-4) from 1938-1940.
“I don’t know,” Kiffin said of the accomplishment earlier this week. “I don’t think about those things. There’s a lot of old years that get floated around of this hasn’t been done before and the home winning streak and all of that.
“We’re just trying to get to 1-0 each week. And if you do have really good records, that means that you’ve got really good coaches and players around you. We’ve got a lot of work to do. As we all know, the schedule was lighter up front than it is at the end, so we’ve got to improve and get better.”
REBS IN THE POLLS
Ole Miss is No. 9 in both the the Associated Press Poll and the Coaches Poll after its win over No. 7 Kentucky. Ole Miss has been ranked in the Top 25 for 22 straight weeks dating back to last season — its longest streak since being ranked for 41 straight weeks that stretched from 2014-16.
The Rebels are back inside the Top 10 for the first time since Ole Miss was ranked No. 8 headed into the 2022 Sugar Bowl. The SEC boasts seven teams in the Top 25, including four teams ranked inside the Top 10.
FIRST HALF EFFICIENCY
Ole Miss is averaging 470.2 yards per game, but the Rebels are doing a majority of their work in the first half.
Kiffin and the Rebel offense average 282.4 yards in the first half, including surpassing the 300-yard mark in the first half in two of its last three contests. The Rebels are outscoring their opponents 127-32 in the first half this season.
Ole Miss has averaged 170.4 yards rushing through the first 30 minutes of their games this season.
Conversely, Ole Miss’ production has trailed off in the second half of games.
The Rebels have 16 combined touchdowns in the first two quarters but eight in the final two.
“Well there’s some red zone, which a year ago was an issue,” Kiffin said. “We were very poor in the red zone, even though we scored a lot of points for the season. We had done really well in the red zone this year. Not finishing off drives. We’ve got a number of plays where just one thing here or there. Some more runs can really break if we’re just patient with them and hit where they’re supposed to go.
“We’ve got to finish off drives. I’m not complaining about it. There are games that you get breaks, and there are games where you don’t get breaks. From the referee part, a lot of things went against us. Very close calls that can go either way, and you’re going to have some games where you benefit from that. We’ve got to not leave it up to that and make the plays ourselves.”
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TACKLE MANIA
The Rebels have had a knack for disrupting plays in the opponent’s backfield this season. Ole Miss is second in the SEC and ranks No. 15 in the FBS with 7.4 tackles for loss per game.
During their Week 3 win over Georgia Tech, the Rebels had 12.0 tackles for loss. It was the most by an Ole Miss defense since recording 15.0 against Kent State on Sept. 22, 2018.
Ole Miss has had nine or more tackles for loss in three of their five games this season.
SACK YOU VERY MUCH
Ole Miss is second in the SEC and No. 13 in the FBS with 3.2 sacks per game.
LB Khari Coleman and DE Jared Ivey are tied for the team lead with 2.5 sacks on the season. Coleman has missed each of the last two games with an injury. Ivey was responsible for the game-winning strip-sack of Kentucky quarterback Will Levis last week.
Ten different Rebels have at least one or more sacks for Ole Miss this year, the third-most amongst FBS schools.
Saturday was the fourth time in the season’s first five games that Ole Miss tallied at least three or more sacks in a game. In all, Ole Miss is seventh nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 11.8 points per game.
The Rebels have held nine of their last 10 opponents to 21 or fewer points, and prior to giving up 27 points in Week 4 to Tulsa, they’d only allowed 13 total points through the season’s first three games — the fewest surrendered since 1963, when Ole Miss was 7-1-2 and was crowned SEC Champions.
