Rebels prepare for familiar looks vs South Carolina
OXFORD — The latest challenge for the Ole Miss defense will be a new kind of familiar.
The Rebels (5-3, 1-3 SEC West) welcome South Carolina (4-3, 3-3 SEC East) to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium Saturday at 11 a.m. in a matchup of teams stuck in the middle of their respective SEC divisions. As has been the case with every Ole Miss game this season, slowing down an opposing offense is going to be a challenge.
But at least this time, Ole Miss might have the familiarity advantage.
For one, South Carolina's first-year quarterbacks coach Dan Werner worked as Ole Miss' co-offensive coordinator from 2012-16, helping guide quarterbacks Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly toward recordbreaking careers in Oxford. Ole Miss coach Matt Luke said he expects Werner to have a certain degree of familiarity with some of the veterans on the Rebels' offense but doesn't expect his presence to be a distraction.
Potentially more importantly, however, are the similarities between South Carolina's offense and the one Ole Miss' defense faces every day in practice.
Werner's presence has led South Carolina to play a more up-tempo offense this season, similar to what he ran at Ole Miss. But beyond that, Ole Miss defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff said South Carolina's offense hinges off RPO like the Rebels' offense does.
"They're running split zone, running split zone, and then they're running playaction off the split zone," McGriff explained. "They do just enough to get your backers downhill and open up behind them, then place the ball right there on the hip pad. That's what's really good about their offense."
McGriff said the Gamecocks' offense revolves around the play of quarterback Jake Bentley. McGriff described Bentley as a smart, competitive and high-energy passer who does a good job of reading coverages based off what he sees from the safeties and sparks his teammates to play up to his level of enthusiasm. While 2018 has been something of a down year for Bentley, who has missed some time with injury and has thrown an SEC-high eight interceptions, his skill as a deep passer can't be underestimated.
Bentley's average touchdown pass this season has gone for 24.2 yards, with seven of his 11 TDs traveling at least 20 yards and four of those gaining for at least 30 yards. As a freshman in 2016, Bentley graded out as the SEC's best deep-throwing quarterback according to Pro Football Focus when he threw an accurate ball on 58 percent of passes that traveled at least 20 yards through the air.
"You better pay attention to the passing game," McGriff said, "because they're going to try to blow the top off your coverage and get one over your head."
McGriff preaches patience when facing an offense such as South Carolina', which he maintains is harder for he and his coaching staff than for the players.
The tendency when facing an RPO-offense is to bite on the run looks, especially the way South Carolina runs RPOs. Gamecocks' offensive coordinator Bryan McClendon disguises his plays by running them from multiple personnel groupings with a high number of pre-snap shifts and motions.
That said, the Ole Miss defense should be more versatile than it has been the last couple of times out.
Defensive back C.J. Miller is expected to return from injury after missing the Arkansas and Auburn games, freeing up Myles Hartsfield to play less cornerback and more safety and relieving pressure off recently-converted running back Armani Linton in the back end. Defensive lineman Austrian Robinson is also expected to return, giving the Rebels some extra girth in the front seven.
But to Luke, even with the extra defenders back in the rotation, there'll be one obvious key to winning the defensive battle on Saturday.
"They're at their best when they're able to run the football off play-action," Luke said. "That's kind of the key for them, so we're going to have to do a good job of stopping the run."