Ole Miss game plan falls apart vs. Florida Gators
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said the Rebels entered with a good game plan Saturday against Florida. Their plans, however good they were, quickly came apart.
Quarterback Will Grier gave the Gators a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into the game and, following a fumble by Rebels’ running back Jaylen Walton, added another touchdown and a 13-0 lead with 6:48 remaining in the first quarter.
Those two scores, as well as two second-quarter touchdowns by the Gators (5-0, 3-0 SEC), set the tone for the 38-10 upset of the Rebels.
“We really needed the game early on to go back and forth a little bit and stay close and us figure some things out,” Freeze said. “We turned it over, we had a snap 20 yards over our head, and then it’s a different game. I think it was a solid plan, but we didn’t execute it.”
The Rebels (4-1, 2-1 SEC) were held scoreless in the first quarter and trailed going into the second quarter and halftime for the first times this season.
They also finished with a season-low 10 points — the previous was 27 against Vanderbilt — and allowed a season-high 38 points, one more than the 37 points they allowed against Alabama.
“Just weren’t executing,” Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly said. “The coaches had a good game plan put together for us. Being a leader of the offense, it starts with me. People look look to me when things go wrong. I have to do a better job making sure everybody’s on the same page.
“It starts (Saturday night) when we watch film. We’re going to correct mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen again because losing is the worst thing ever.”
The Rebels went from No. 3 to No. 14 in the AP Top 25 and No. 5 to No. 13 in the Amway Coaches Poll on Sunday. The Gators (No. 11 in the former, No. 12 in the latter) jumped up big with the win.
Get sick?
The Gators started last week with the bad news that several players had become sick with the flu. It came, coincidentally, the day they were scheduled to receive flu shots.
But any concern they’d be limited due to a lack of depth with 21 players sick was assuaged with their upset win Saturday. If it wasn’t, just look at stat line of Grier, who battled the flu: 24 of 29 for 271 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half.
“Yeah, he was sick, but you know what?” Gators coach Jim McElwain said. “We had 21 other guys sick, so it ain’t about him. It’s about everybody pulling up. There was some guys that stepped up. They went through some adversity and found a way to focus and go play.”
Their flu "epidemic," though, seemed minor.
McElwain described it as “one of those 48-hour things” and that players were separated from the team and had film sent to their iPads to watch.
Freeze joked that his team might need to get the flu, too.
“I hope we get the flu next week,” Freeze said. “It’s probably something we need to look into.”
Quick hits
Walton couldn’t finish Saturday’s game due to an injured ankle that had bothered him throughout last week. He finished with nine carries for 23 yards, an average of 2.6 yards per attempt. … The Rebels were without right guard Justin Bell, who is battling a right ankle injury, against the Gators. They started left guard Javon Patterson in his spot and Aaron Morris at left guard. Rod Taylor worked into the rotation at guard, though he was limited due to a shoulder injury. Kelly was sacked four times against the Gators after being sacked twice against Alabama and three times against Vanderbilt the previous two weeks.
Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.