Week five SEC upset alert — No. 16 Ole Miss
Although the SEC matchups in week six look pretty straightforward, Ole Miss plays a Memphis team that knocked off the Rebels last year and are averaging over 50 points a game.
Pregame view of Vaught-Hemingway stadium in Oxford, Mississippi on Oct. 18, 2014, before the game between the Ole Miss Rebels and the Tennessee Volunteers. Photo courtesy of creativecommons.org. No changes made.
Week four in the SEC was certainly a wild one, to say the least! The Tennessee Volunteers came back against arch-rival Florida in what felt like an upset, even though the higher ranked team came away victorious. UMass had Mississippi State against the ropes all game only to eventually lose control of the game. Surprisingly, neither of those games resulted in firings. However, Auburn beating LSU in the closing seconds proved to be the last straw for head coach Les Miles. Miles, who won a national title with LSU in 2007, was fired in response to the loss. While colleges and fan bases are becoming increasingly more impatient, what game we should keep an eye on in week five?
There shouldn’t be many upsets this week in the SEC. As far as an upset alert goes, it’s fairly obvious who should be on high alert this week: the Ole Miss Rebels.
Sure, the Rebels looked great last weekend, and to be honest, they’ve shown they can move the ball down the field at will this season. Then why are they 2-2, you might ask? They lost to two quality opponents in Alabama and Florida State. The Rebels had a good lead on both teams, but somehow managed to let both back in the game. Last week, they closed out a rising Georgia team in stunning fashion, 45-14.
On the other hand, Memphis is a team that has been deceptively challenging to beat the last couple of years. Last year, in Memphis, the tigers beat the rebels 37-24 behind the play calling of Justin Fuente and the arm of now-Denver Broncos’ quarterback Paxton Lynch.
The Tigers are a new team this year with new coach Mike Norvell. Norvell was the former offensive coordinator at Arizona State before taking the head coaching job at Memphis this season. Now, the 3-0 Tigers are averaging around 52 points a game. Succeeding Lynch at quarterback is a man by the name of Riley Ferguson. Ferguson might sound familiar to SEC fans because he was a Vol until losing the starting job to Josh Dobbs and announcing his transfer in May of 2014.
As jaw-dropping as both of these offenses can be, this game will probably come down to who has the better defense. Ole Miss should win. Most people would be shocked if they lost. The game is in Oxford and the Rebels shouldn’t lose in back-to-back years to an AAC opponent in Memphis.
With that being said, it isn’t impossible for the Rebs to get up early, take it easy, and allow the Tigers to roar back. The key to the game for Ole Miss will be playing an entire sixty minutes.
No. 14 Ole Miss will take on Memphis on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. ET in Oxford, Mississippi, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
Edited by Nathan Odom
Featured image by Tate Nations
