Not bad, but really, this thing should be over.
Starting with the offense and Conner Weigman: Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. He's 10-12 for 119 yards and 2 TDs. He's making quick decisions and getting the ball out fast. Honestly, this is what the offense should have been all year, and it makes no sense why it wasn't. But some of it is definitely Weigman being decisive. He's thrown a lot of real nice throws with a lot of zip and doesn't seem to be intimidated. His only bad series was the last one, with the two slips and throwing it to Moose in double-coverage when he had Achane in the flat for big yards and a likely field goal try. But hey, you take it and go.
Hey, Ole Miss sucks against the run. Give to Achane! And look -- they did! It's a Christmas miracle. Achane has carried 17 times for 124 yards already. He carried the ball 19 times all last week. This is what you should do. It's an Achane-centric offense and the quarterback works off of that. I don't know why it's so hard.
Gotta give a ton of credit to Kam Dewberry and Trey Zuhn. A lot of Achane's yards have been on cutbacks, taking plays designed to go right and taking them back left. Dewberry has flattened some dudes early on.
I said you needed to get the tight end involved with stick plays down the seam and behold, two for a 57 yards. Both set up touchdowns. It's amazing. Actually, amazing was Evan Stewart's touchdown catch. That was special. He and Weigman seem to have a rapport already.
The only real gripe I have offensively was the 4th down play call. That was absolutely awful and had no shot. I will never understand why they call plays that have routes that don't get beyond the sticks, especially on 4th down.
The offense has racked up 234 yards, including 115 on the ground. They've got to finish drives with points, but overall, they've done pretty well.
The defense...good Lord. First, the three man front that Ole Miss ate alive. That was mind-boggling. And the tackling has been absolutely abysmal. Ole Miss already has 195 rushing yards, and that's after a couple of drives where the defense actually showed up. The problem later in the half was Jaxson Dart running for his life and picking up big yards. That's been a big difference and kept the last drive alive.
But jeez, the tackling. Too much of the old 2013-14 shoulder hits instead of wrapping up. The linebackers (or linebacker?) are either tentative or are running themselves out of the play. They did a much better job after the first couple of drives slowing down the plays to the outside, including the passes in the flat. Tyreek Chappell, especially, has done a great job there.
McKinnley Jackson had a strong first half, getting good push and even getting a sack. There's a lot of pressure on Dart, but they've got to cut off the outside when he runs. And a few more holding calls would be nice. The only passing yardage Ole Miss has came on blown coverages, which is a far cry from last year.
The Aggies need to take this second half kickoff and shove it right down Ole Miss's throat. Make it so that the Rebels have to throw and just can't grind it out -- while you can. Make it easy for Weigman. Keep up the quick passes and run Achane. You do that and you can win this sucker.
