OXFORD – Ole Miss junior linebacker Jaden Yates and the Rebels’ defense needed a palate cleanser following their matchup against Arkansas.
In their 41-35 win over the Razorbacks, the No. 13 Rebels (4-0, 2-0 SEC) surrendered 526 total yards, including 221 and four touchdowns on the ground. Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green threw for 305 yards and ran for 115 yards. While Ole Miss settled down in the second half and forced a late game-clinching turnover, the performance didn’t sit well with Yates and his teammates.
Defensive coordinator Pete Golding called a meeting with his defenders to show them what went wrong.
“(Golding) pulled up about a 30-play cutup of just plays in the game, referencing where guys did exactly the opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish here: guys not doing their job, guys doing too much, things like that,” Yates said. “Not making plays that we know we’re supposed to make. … Our whole room on our unit is full of competitors, full of guys that want to do the right thing.”
Fast forward to Saturday against Tulane, and it’s clear the message was well received.
Ole Miss held the Green Wave to 282 total yards in the Rebels’ 45-10 victory, the second-lowest yardage total they have allowed this season. Tulane quarterbacks Jake Retzlaff and Brendan Sullivan went a combined 10 of 29 passing for 104 yards, and the Green Wave were unsuccessful on three straight fourth-down attempts to open the second half. Tulane’s lone touchdown came with less than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Green Wave’s 282 yards was their lowest yardage total for the season by more than 120 yards.
Ole Miss hosts No. 4 LSU Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ABC.
“I think it was definitely our best bounce-back performance. Obviously, knowing the product that we put on tape last Saturday on that field was not a product that we were proud of by any means,” Yates said. “We sat on that, I had to sit on that for a whole week … just thinking about it, which I mean, you want to turn the page at some point. But when things kind of go that left, it’s kind of hard to, so we had a bad taste in our mouth all week. And the big emphasis was just do your job, and all 11 on the field do their job. We’re a very good defense. … I’m very proud of how we bounced back.”
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