Ole Miss QB Wallace eventually finds groove

OXFORD – Ole Miss watched the tape and had a plan. Tennessee owned the nation's eighth-best pass defense, but relied strongly on tendencies. The Rebels expected to take advantage of them.

"They were as much tendency-oriented as anybody we faced all year," Ole Miss offensive coordinator Dan Werner said. "So we felt like we know what we're going to get."

Bo Wallace expected man coverage with one high safety. Instead, the Volunteers threw blitzes at the Rebels, which stunned the offense through the first 25 minutes.

Then Wallace converted a 28-yard pass down the sideline to Vince Sanders. It ignited the Ole Miss offense, which began to play like the No. 3 team in the nation and disposed of Tennessee 34-3.

"There comes a point in these SEC games where your kids have to win some one-on-ones," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said.

Wallace's next pass netted 39 yards to Sanders again for the Rebels' first touchdown with 5:08 left in the second quarter. The consecutive passes gained 67 yards, 24 more than he amassed in his first 15 attempts.

Tennessee bracketed Laquon Treadwell, which forced Wallace to look elsewhere. Sanders got the call. He finished with four catches with 108 yards and a touchdown.

Wallace returned to the passer that owned the Southeastern Conference's second best completion percentage at 68 percent.

After the rough start, Wallace converted on 9 of 13 attempts for 156 yards.

"We found some things right before half and were able to get a little more efficient," Freeze said.

The Volunteers limited two quarterbacks to less than 100 yards this season.

Wallace appeared to be headed down that road Saturday. The Ole Miss senior totaled 43 yards through his first 15 attempts, completing just four passes.

But Wallace finished 13 of 28 for 199 yards and two scores. Tennessee surrendered 160 yards a game heading into Saturday's matchup. He also completed his fourth SEC game without a turnover. Ole Miss finished without a turnover.

"He is very conscientious about taking care of the ball," Freeze said.

The Rebels finished with 34 points, but like Wallace, didn't find an offensive rhythm until late in the second. The final touchdown came with 31 seconds remaining.

Ole Miss had a negative amount of rushing yards with 2:22 remaining in the first half. The Rebels owned 66 yards through the first 25 minutes of the game.

Once they found the end zone, the Rebels punted twice the rest of the game. The final nine drives ended with a touchdown four times, two fields goals, a missed field goal and the two punts.

"After we scored that first touchdown it kind of brought energy back to us as an offense," Wallace said.

Contact Michael Bonner at (601) 961-7289 or mbonner@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.