Ben MillerHeading into the bye week, the Rebels are not in a great spot. With only SEC competition remaining on the schedule, the team’s record sits at 5-3. There is a very real possibility that this season ends below the .500 mark. One week, the offense will look hot, but the defense will be absent. The next week, the defense comes up with stops, and the offense has disappeared. With his back against the wall, Matt Luke is thankful for this bye week as an opportunity to re-calibrate his squad.
“We really needed this open date,” Luke said. “It’s a good time for us for self-evaluation and to get some guys healed up for this stretch run. … Big week for us, self-evaluation, looking at things we’ve done well, things that we haven’t done well and we’re going to use this week to get better.”
Luke has a lot to look at over the next week, as the questions about this team have dug deeper and deeper as the season goes on. On Monday, Luke addressed some of the bigger questions going forward as far as what needs to see the most immediate improvement in order to win games.
“The things we’re looking at are critical factors,” he said. “Offensively, third downs and red zone. Obviously after the last game, we’ve spent a lot of time on red zone and what can we do to improve there. When you play against defenses that are really good, it gets tough down there.”
While Matt Luke attempts to sort out the red zone stalls that have plagued the past couple weeks, the same big issues that have been around all season remain in the back of his mind. Though the defense held on against Auburn through the entire first half, its propensity to give up big plays reared its ugly head straight out of the gates.
“It was different things here and there,” Luke said. “We gave up an explosive pass and an explosive run, and we didn’t fit it, and it goes back to that consistency…but when they do break a run, you have to be able to get that guy on the ground and then just play the next play, and those plays prove to be the difference.”
In Oxford on Monday, Luke was vague in his answer for how to improve on his team’s consistency. He asked the questions Rebel fans have been asking since the offseason, but appeared to either not have the answers to those questions or simply chose not to reveal them.
“As you look at all the explosive plays and you see if there are any common denominators, anything showing up, is it one call that we’re giving up explosive plays on?” Luke said. “Is there one player that’s struggling in man-to-man coverage? How can we help him? You’re just looking for common denominators and making sure you eliminate that and try to put guys in as good as situations that you can with your lack of depth. This guy is struggling with doing this, so what can we do to help him?”
As the Rebels take a week of rest before hosting South Carolina in another 11 a.m. kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Ole Miss fans will be hoping that the extra days of practice will give Coach Luke the time he needs to answer these questions and get his team moving in the right direction. Self-evaluation and preparation will be the keys for the Ole Miss Rebels to improve on last year’s 6-6 mark with two late-season SEC wins.
