Look Ahead: Ole Miss Blasted Last Week by Alabama Still Shows Signs Of Improvement

The Ole Miss Rebels Are Next Up For Vanderbilt, And The Rebels Are Coming Of A Beating Last Week By Alabama

No one gave the Ole Miss Rebels much of a chance to win last Saturday when the faced the then second ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.

 Those folks were correct as Bama pounded the Rebels 59-31 in a gamed thatsscore was closer than the game itself.

The Tide's high powered offense and their Heisman candidate quarterback Tua Tagovailoa set records for passing yards, touchdowns and celebrations in the endzone against the Rebels defense that was clearly overmatched against Bama, as most are these days.

Ole Miss will host the Vanderbilt Commodores this coming Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in a critical SEC cross-division matchup for both teams. 

The Rebels (2-3 overall, 1-1 SEC) have defeated Arkansas in conference play, while Vanderbilt (1-3 overall, 0-2 SEC) are searching for their first conference win of the season, Both teams have asperations of post season play and the winner of this game will take a critical step closer to fulfilling that goal. 

Against Alabama, the Rebels and head coach Matt Luke were forced to play true freshman quarterback John Rhys Plumlee because of injury to starting quarterback Matt Corral.

Plumlee acquited himself well for a first time starter in a hostle enviroment against one of the top teams in the nation, completing 10 of 28 pass attempts for 141 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Those numbers won't win Plumlee conference player of the week honors, but when watching the game itself, you see many positives in his performance last Saturday.

Athleticism: Plumlee doesn't have the prototypical size ( 6'0" 192) but he has athleticism and displayed it repeatedly against the Tide defense, getting outside against the rush and extending plays, especially late in the game while leading two late scoring drives for the Rebels. 

One could certainly argue-and correctly so- that the Bama defense had lost focus late because of their big lead and were not playing like they had earlier in the game. Still Plumlee kept coming.

Metal Toughness: The freshman took some big shots from an Alabama defense loaded with future NFL talent and he made some mistakes, but he never seemed rattled or as if the moment in front of a packed house and national television audience were too big for him. 

While we don't know which quarterback will start, or if both will play Satuday against the Commodores, what's clear is that Vanderbilt is not Alabama. The Commodores coaching staff can take things from this game to use against the Rebels, but it's doubtful that they will have the same level of success.

This will be a tough matchup for Vanderbilt regardless of which player is under center Saturday as the Rebels are an improving football team with talent. Vanderbilt has the talent to play with, and win against the Rebels, but the Commodores must bring their best efforts on both sides of the ball this week to get their first SEC win of the season.