Texas Longhorns Football 2012

Texas speed and size was too much for Ole Miss

The Ole Miss Rebels were soundly defeated by the Texas Longhorns 66-31 last week. The Rebels can’t let Texas beat them twice by this the Rebels has the put the Texas loss behind them and focus on their next opponent. The Rebels will travel this week to New Orleans to face the Tulane Green Wave. The Green Wave is winless on the season 0-3. The Rebels were not ready for the speed, depth and size of the Longhorns. The Rebels were able to gain some building blocks from the Texas game. One positive from the game for the Rebel was they were able to score 31 points against a top 25 ranked team. Another positive for the Rebels was they found out they were able to move the ball and are a better team than they were last year. Win or lose the Rebels fans know how to party and the game attracted 61,797 fans the fourth largest crowd in Vaught Hemmingway history and the largest non-conference game ever.

Ole Miss’ Donte Moncrief goes up over Quandre Diggs of Texas. Photo by Justin Ford.

1) Not ready for prime time. The Rebels do not have the depth and size of the top tier teams in the country and they have very little room for errors. The Rebels also were not able to get the Longhorns off of the field in key situations.

2) Offense can score against a top quality defense. The Rebels did score 31 points against a top 20 team. Jeff Scott finished the game with 95 rushing yards. Bo Wallace had 178 passing yards. Wallace threw a pick six on the first offensive series to Texas to put the Rebels in a come from behind situation.

3) Size does matter. The size and strength of the offensive and defensive line for the Longhorns were able to control both sides of the ball. The Rebels were not able to give Bo Wallace enough time to find his open receivers. The Longhorns offensive line gave Longhorns quarterback David Ash more than enough time for his receivers to break free from Rebel defenders.

4) Rebels are not too far off. The Rebels knew coming into the season they were inexperienced in the defensive back field and gave up too many big plays. The Rebels do not have the depth to compete with the big boys and truly missed suspended defensive back Trae Elston. Donte Moncrief did have 144 receiving yards against a very good Texas defensive secondary.

5) Speed Kills. The Longhorns have more than one wide receiver with world class speed and they were able to get behind the Rebel defenders on a regular basis. The Longhorns had two receivers to have over 100 receiving yards in the game Mike Davis 124 yards and Marquise Goodwin 102 yards. Goodwin also had an 80 rushing yards all on an end around that Ole Miss was not able to catch after he broke free from the line of scrimmage.

Terry Davis covers Ole Miss football for MemphiSport. Follow him @Terryd515.

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Game Preview: Ole Miss vs. Texas

What a difference a year makes. Last season the Longhorns were struggling to score points there was a weekly debate on who the quarterback is going to be and other questions were surrounding the team. Now after two convincing wins the team is still being asked questions, but more on the side of how good can is this team and how far can this team go?

Ole Miss’ Jeff Scott looks to run though the Texas Longhorns’ defense. (Photo by Chris Evans)

Texas is coming off a rout of New Mexico 45-0. Despite the shutout there are concerns on the defensive side. The Longhorns allowed 246 rushing yards and were not able to get the Lobos off of the field in third down situations.

The Rebels come into this game matching their total wins from last season of 2 with a 2-0 record. This will be the best opponent that the Rebels have faced this year and the same will be true also for the Longhorns. The Rebels enter the game averaging over 500 total yards per game.

The Rebels are led by dual threat at quarterback Bo Wallace. Wallace leads the team in passing and rushing. Wallace has deceptive speed and has surprised opponents with his willingness to dip a shoulder into their chest.

The No. 12 ranked Longhorns has more to prove in this game. However Ole Miss has more to gain from this game. If the Longhorns win they can boast about defeating someone from a BCS conference and claim they deserve more recognition on the season. A Rebel win and they can go from receiving votes in the polls to being ranked for the first time in years.

This game will come down to two key factors. One who can control the line of scrimmage and two who will make the fewest mistakes? The team that controls the line of scrimmage will be able to dictate the tempo of the game. The Rebels would like to control the ball with their no huddle offense to keep the Longhorns’ defense off balance. Also the Rebels will want to run the ball to keep you honest for the passing plays.

The Longhorns also want to control the line of scrimmage to block for Ash so he can exploit the Rebels’ secondary, which is very young and inexperienced. The major key to the game is who makes the fewest mistakes not only in the turnover department, but also in in proper execution of offensive and defensive schemes.

The Longhorns have very fast wide receivers that able to get behind defenders especially Olympian Marquise Goodwin. The Rebels will be short one defensive back Trae Elston. Elston was suspended by the SEC for an illegal hit against a defensive receiver in the UTEP game.

This game can be seen on ESPN at 8:15 CT.

Terry Davis covers Ole Miss football for MemphiSport. Follow him @Terryd515.

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