Ole Miss’ O-line moves forward after Arkansas loss
OXFORD - Ole Miss' offensive line allowed three sacks against Arkansas last week.
One of those came on the Rebels' final possession along with a false start penalty from offensive tackle Alex Givens, which put No. 22 Ole Miss in a difficult 4th-and-16 scenario to end the game.
The Rebels' offensive line will attempt to bounce back against one of the better pass rushing teams in the country when it faces No. 23 LSU on Saturday (8 p.m., ESPN) in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers (4-2, 2-1 SEC) are No. 17 in the FBS in sacks per game with three. LSU has recorded 18 sacks and has been paced by linebacker Arden Key, who leads the SEC with seven.
"The best way to get a bad taste out of your mouth is to go back to work," Ole Miss offensive line coach Matt Luke said. "Nobody in this league is going to feel sorry for you or feel bad for you. Everybody plays tough schedules. Everybody has to bounce back."
On the offensive line, the Rebels (3-3, 1-2) start three sophomores — Jordan Sims, Javon Patterson and Sean Rawlings — while freshmen Greg Little and Alex Givens rotate regularly, so it's a young group.
The Rebels are halfway through the regular season. Luke is pleased with the direction the group is headed and mentioned how it's a unit that plays hard and isn't selfish.
Coach Hugh Freeze's offenses aren't particularly known for running the ball, but Luke wants to see the unit maximize its opportunities with the run game.
"I just want to see us continue to have an aggressive mentality when we have the opportunity," he said. "That's the hard part with our offense. We're going tempo and throwing it, but when we run, I want to make it count. We can do that and can continue to do that and take advantage of every opportunity to do that."
Ole Miss rushed for 150 yards against Arkansas, but 89 came from quarterback Chad Kelly, who dropped back to pass but opted to run on multiple occasions. Running backs Akeem Judd and Eugene Brazley averaged 3.7 and 3.3 yards, respectively.
Improvement is needed in that regard. LSU's rush defense has allowed 103.7 yards per game, which ranks 11th in the FBS.
And there's been a different look to that front since a September coaching change when Les Miles was fired.
"A little bit more four-down (linemen)," Luke said. "The first several games they were a little more odd (3-4) front, but you're going to see both. We have to prepare for both."
Rawlings felt the offensive line held up well with the crowd noise against Arkansas, but they'll play in a much more difficult environment this week. Luke said Tiger Stadium will be the biggest challenge of the season for the offensive line in terms of crowd noise.
"Nothing helps like getting ready for the next one," Rawlings said. "Especially going down to LSU and Death Valley. I think everybody’s motivated for that.”