Week 5 SEC Football Letter Grades: OLE MISS Through Texas
Credit: Ole Miss Athletics
OLE MISS: F
Ole Miss fans entered 2024 with the utmost anticipation for a football season.
2023 was arguably the best season for the Rebels in the modern era. With the large number of returnees and high quality transfers, fans had every reason to believe this year could play out better than last.
The college football world operated under this assumption for the first four weeks of the season as the Rebels tore through non conference opponent after non conference opponent.
Ole Miss won all of its SEC West games in 2023 by 10 or less points, showing an ability to prevail in tense situations. The Rebels’ hiatus from these games proved detrimental in a horrible 20-17 loss to Kentucky, a game in which they were drug through the mud.
I don’t think it’s outrageous to call this the worst loss in the Kiffin era at Ole Miss.
Take 2020 out of the equation, the worst team Ole Miss lost to by record in the previous three seasons in Oxford was a 9-4 Mississippi State team, a ceiling level team for the folks in Starkville.
Jaxson Dart was outdueled by a guy who threw for 30 yards against South Carolina three weeks ago. Lane Kiffin’s biggest wins right now are on TikTok, not the football field.
Not a good position to be in.
TEXAS A&M: A-
I was between A and B on this one, but there were a couple of reasons why I had to go A for Aggies.
For one, Texas A&M isn’t built to outrun its opponents on offense. Marcel Reed threw for 163 yards and a pair of touchdown passes while Le’Veon Moss ran for 117 on the ground. Most of the offense’s possessions ended in punts.
The play of the defense is what won Texas A&M this game. The Aggies took Ja’Quinden Jackson and the run game out of the equation, holding the Razorbacks to just 100 rush yards.
Turnovers were paramount for the Aggies defense. Defensive back Dezz Ricks jumped a Taylen Green pass for the lone pick, and they recovered one fumble on a botched exchange and another due to a Nic Scourton strip of Green.
The Aggies did surrender a first down on a fake punt, but it helped ready them for the fake field goal Arkansas tried later in the game.
The Southwest Classic is typically a tight battle no matter how good or bad Arkansas is, so a tight victory shouldn’t concern Texas A&M fans.
TEXAS: B+
The Longhorns were children playing with their food in the 35-13 win over Mississippi State Saturday.
Texas let the Bulldogs have it for 12 plays on the opening drive but got off the field and promptly scored on its first possession. But the remainder of the first half and a decent portion of the third quarter weren’t pretty for the Longhorns.
Running back Jaydon Blue fumbled the ball away on the next possession. The Texas defense would get off the field, but disaster struck again as Mississippi State blocked the punt to immediately put it in field goal range.
The Horns scored a touchdown to go up 14-6 at half and received the ball to start the third quarter. Blue fumbled the ball away again on the first play of the quarter, but his defense bailed him out with a fumble recovery of their own.
It took a couple of more possessions but the Longhorns found the end zone on a 1-yard rush touchdown from quarterback Arch Manning. Manning threw for an additional 324 yards and two touchdowns on 26/31 passing, taking out his frustration on a team his family isn’t particularly fond of.
Flirting around with what may be the worst team in the SEC cost Texas its top spot in the AP poll, losing it to the Alabama team that won miraculously over Georgia.
