An early South Carolina touchdown didn’t phase Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss as it leaned on its defense and star running back Kewan Lacy to a 30-14 win on Saturday.
Ole Miss (8-1, 5-1 SEC) has been finding
different ways to win this season with Saturday being no exception. The Rebels defense recorded a season high six sacks while only allowing 230 total offensive yards. The first quarter touchdown by South Carolina (3-6, 1-6 SEC) was a large by-product of a muffed punt by Trey Wallace recovered by the Gamecocks. Without that prime field position, its easy to see Ole Miss’ defense could have possibly held its opponent to single digits.
What wasn’t clicking on Saturday night in Oxford though was the Ole Miss offense. Trinidad Chambliss passed for 159 yards with one touchdown and one interception on 12/21 attempts. The Rebels ran the ball 45 times for 258 yards with Lacy leading the effort with 167 yards and a game clinching touchdown.
Lacy’s 54-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was far and away the most electrifying moment of the game and started the party in the stands. However, you take that breakaway run and Chambliss’ 15 yard touchdown run, and you’ve got 43 rushes for 190 yards, which is good enough for 4,4 yards per carry. I point that out to debunk the enormous amount of comments on social media about “running it up the middle for no gain all night.” It’s just not the case and some lazy, casual fandom.
Suntarine Perkins and Wydett Williams Jr. both picked off USC QB Lanorris Sellers who passed for 180 yards and rushed 15 times for 17 yards with two total touchdowns. It was clear Sellers was supposed to be the guy who made this SC team great, but he either doesn’t have enough help around him or wasn’t 100 percent week in and week out to get the Gamecocks to better than 3-6 thus far.
Perkins also led the defense with 1.5 sacks with Kam Franklin, Will Echoles, Princewill Umanmielen, TJ Dottery, Jamarious Brown and Da’Shawn Womack all getting in on the sack sheet as well.
This is the third time in the Kiffin era his team sits at 8-1. He has yet to close a season at 11-1, so with next week’s game with the Citadel a very likely win, Ole Miss is a home game with Florida and an Egg Bowl victory from accomplishing a very historic season in Oxford.
