How is Ole Miss offense if Matt Corral isn’t healthy?
OXFORD — LSU football coach Ed Orgeron thinks it's a diversion tactic. Let's, for a moment, imagine it isn't.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said Monday he's concerned about quarterback Matt Corral's chances of playing Saturday (2:30 p.m., CBS) when No. 12 Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1 SEC) hosts LSU (4-3, 2-2). Kiffin said he's hopeful Corral will play but he doesn't "feel good about that right now."
Consider Orgeron skeptical.
"I've been looking at Matt Corral all morning, and we're expecting him to play," Orgeron said Monday. "But we're going to study the second-team quarterback. But knowing Matt, and knowing coach Kiffin, he's kind of throwing me a smoke screen."
Corral left the Rebels' 31-26 win over Tennessee for one play in the fourth quarter with what he described as a "rolled-up ankle" that "went dead for a second." He returned for the Rebels' last possession and carried a 30th time, making him the first Ole Miss player to carry that many times in a game since 2007. Kiffin said Corral hasn't felt well for the last two days after that kind of a workload.
In a situation where Corral can't play Saturday, the Rebels will likely turn to freshman Luke Altmyer, a four-star signee from Starkville High School. Altmyer is 0-for-4 passing this year but Kiffin said he's pleased with the freshman's development, especially after missing time during fall camp with an injury.
Beyond Altmyer, Ole Miss has backup quarterbacks Kinkead Dent, a rarely used redshirt sophomore, and senior transfer Tyrrell Pigrome, who started at Maryland and Western Kentucky but hasn't played for the Rebels. There's also junior receiver John Rhys Plumlee, who ran for a career-high 212 yards and four touchdowns against LSU in 2019 but has only played quarterback in mop-up duty since his freshman year.
The more likely situation, though, is Corral can play but isn't fully himself.
Corral accounted for 83.5% of the Rebels' total offense against Tennessee.
Corral isn't just the quarterback who ranks top 10 in the FBS in yards per pass attempt and passer efficiency rating. He also ranks No. 5 among quarterbacks in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
Saying he leads the Rebels in rushing and that he ran for 195 yards against Tennessee doesn't tell the whole story. Eight of his 30 carries against Tennessee converted a third or fourth down. Corral has rushed for more third-down conversions this season (11) than he has thrown for (10). He isn't just the engine that drives the Rebels' offense. He's the tires, too.
Asking Corral to stop running probably won't work. The Rebels can cut back on designed runs, but a lot of his rushing yards come on scrambles on called pass plays. Without his legs, those plays turn into wasted downs on incomplete passes thrown out-ofbounds or turnovers heaved into close coverage.
Running backs Henry Parrish, Snoop Conner and Jerrion Ealy are talented enough to take some pressure of Corral in the running game. It's his receivers to worry about more.
Senior Braylon Sanders and junior Jonathan Mingo are both hurt, leaving Corral without two of his top three options. If Corral's legs are limited and his receiving corps is comprised of lessproven players such as Dannis Jackson, Jahcour Pearson and Plumlee, LSU'S defense should be able to unleash its pass rushers, who have logged the secondmost sacks in the SEC, and attack on passing downs where the Rebels try to set up plays downfield.
Tennessee sacked Corral five times on a day when he could escape. Protection has been an issue, as have penalties from the offensive line. If Corral isn't his normal, dynamic self, long-developing pass plays will become harder to pull off.
This doesn't turn Ole Miss' offense to mush. The Rebels are still going against an LSU defense that ranks bottom five in the SEC in just about every statistic. A capable rushing attack that incorporates swing passes to backs, another big game from senior receiver Dontario Drummond and a surprise big performance from Pearson or Jackson still likely leads to Ole Miss scoring around 30 points.