HOOVER, Ala. — Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze will get a good idea of where his team is after the first game.
Ole Miss opens the season against Florida State on Monday, Sept. 5, in Orlando, Florida. The matchup could go a long way in deciding which four teams are in the College Football Playoff.
“We don’t have to work too hard to get prepared to get motivated for week one,” Freeze said. “Our kids are locked in for that and focused for that.”
Ole Miss is coming off back-to-back New Year’s 6 bowl games. It lost to TCU 42-3 in the 2014 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Last season, Ole Miss defeated Oklahoma State 48-20 victory in the 2016 Allstate Sugar Bowl to cap a 10-3 season.
The Rebels return several players from last year’s squad, including quarterback Chad Kelly. The East Mississippi Community College transfer threw for 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns as a junior last season.
Kelly is ready for the challenge of facing Florida State.
“If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be a great game. They have some great players. They are good on defense and their offense is pretty good, too.”
The Rebels lead the series 1-0 thanks to a 33-0 victory in 1961.
Even though it’s a neutral-site game, there probably will be more Florida State fans than Ole Miss fans in Orlando. Expecting a lot of noise when they are on offense, Freeze said the Rebels have been working on a silent cadence.
“We play in a lot of difficult environments in this league, so we’ll prepare just like we do for a road SEC game,” Freeze said.
The Rebels have high expectations for this season. Getting a win against a quality opponent will be the first step to meeting those expectations.
“It will be an atmosphere we have to handle,” Freeze said. “Good thing, I think, we have some people in key positions of leadership that will help us do that.”
LSU’s Fournette developing
One look at LSU running back Leonard Fournette and Mississippi State defensive lineman A.J. Jefferson would never think he could be very fast.
But the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Fournette proved last year he can be a bruiser and a speedster.
Jefferson saw Fournette score three touchdowns against MSU last season in a 21-19 loss at home. That’s when he realized Fournette is more versatile than people think.
“You never realize how fast he is until you just look up and you see him on the jumbotron after he’s just scored a 50-yard touchdown,” Jefferson said. “You’re like, ‘Dang, he can move.’ It’s pretty crazy.”
Fournette had 300 carries for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns as a sophomore. The New Orleans, Louisiana, native was a Heisman Trophy favorite for most of the season, but he fell out of contention after rushing for 31 yards against Alabama.
This season, Fournette will be a heavy favorite to win the Heisman, but he said personal goals aren’t his main concern.
“I wasn’t really worried about it, and this year I’m not, either,” Fournette said. “My main focus is to win a national championship and bring it back to Louisiana.”
LSU coach Les Miles was asked numerous times if Fournette has met his weight requirements. He said Fournette has met the requirement of being between 225 and 231 pounds. He attributes Fournette’s success to his drive.
“It’s his desire to be an elite back,” Miles said. “He wants to be able to have speed, strength, and the combination of the two is the advantage for the elite back.”
Opposing defenses have more film on Fournette now and they may devise a plan to slow him down. Stopping him may be too much of a task.
Jefferson said he got a few hits on him last year, but that was about it.
“He’s a tough guy to bring down. I can’t be mad if I see a defensive back not want to tackle him because he’s kind of hard for me to tackle,” Jefferson said.
South Carolina’s tough September
Will Muschamp’s first season at South Carolina won’t have an easy start.
The Gamecocks three of their four games in September on the road. South Carolina opens the season at Vanderbilt on a Thursday night. It then travels to Mississippi State before returning home to play host to East Carolina. South Carolina ends the first month at Kentucky.
“In this league, it’s going to be tough no matter how it starts off,” Muschamp said. “You can’t always have it the way you want it. I look for a great opportunity to be 2-0 coming home to our fans.”
Under Steve Spurrier and interim coach Shawn Elliott, the Gamecocks finished 3-9 (1-7 in the SEC) in 2015. South Carolina lost to Kentucky and Georgia early in the SEC season.
Two of the three wins came in September (North Carolina and Central Florida). The last win, a 19-10 triumph against Vanderbilt, was on Oct. 17. South Carolina lost its final five games (Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida, The Citadel, and Clemson).
“I wouldn’t say it’s a sense of urgency,” rising senior defensive lineman Marquavius Lewis said. “We all have the mind-set to go out there and change this program and get (the team) on the right path.
“SEC is the best football, so we are going to take it on with a full head of steam.”
South Carolina opens October with games against Texas A&M and Georgia. The final two games are non-conference games against Western Carolina and at Clemson.
Muschamp, who was the Florida coach for four seasons, said there is nothing he could do about the schedule, so the Gamecocks have to focus on themselves.
“We need to take care of South Carolina, take care of us in camp,” Muschamp said. “We need to improve every day and find a way to win the day. All of those things are what we need to concentrate on.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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