Florida Recap

After the biggest win for the Rebels since Eli's senior year its hard not to be a little more excited for the future. Maybe you won't have to email complaints the the Raging Irish Canadian this week.

THE GOOD

The offense hit the big play when they had two. Jevan Snead's long pass to Shay Hodge was perfect. Florida was loading up on the line to stop the run and limit the underneath routes. Shay got wide open with the whole field to run and made them pay. Snead did what they didn't think he could do and survived the blitz and made the completion.

Dexter also had numerous big runs out to the wildcat formation. Many of them sustained drives that kept the defense off the field. None were bigger than his touchdown run to put the Rebels on top in the second half. Cordera also had another good day and made a great catch on a swing pass and took it to the house showing stellar elusiveness not to go out of bounds. The offense has an amazing stable of weapons in the receiver and running back positions.

The big story of the day thought was how big the defense stepped up. They are performing better and better every week the more they get comfortable in Tyrone Nix's system. They are averaging nine points allowed a game less than at this point last year. The Rebels finally have a great defensive coordinator after so many years in the wilderness of the Thompson, Orgeron, Dunn, Kaufman, and Lindsey eras. Its so nice to see. He gets the most out of his players. He knows their weaknesses and schemes around it. The d-line stops the run and the backs keep everything in front of them to stop the big play. He also creates effective blitzes which is just a crazy thought. The Rebels are currently leading the SEC in tackles for a loss.

Lots of great individual efforts to go around as well. Tony Fein was the linebacker to step up and lead the defense. He had 10 tackles and a lot of great hits. I would expect to see him play more and more as the season progresses. Jamarca Sandford obviously had another great week and lead the team in tackles again with 11 on his way to SEC defensive player of the week.

Ted Laurent had six huge tackles, stopped the middle and Tebow's running and one huge sack. A year after running for 166 yards the Rebels held him to 7 on 15 carries. Greg Hardy returned to being a force in the SEC with two sacks. Peria had three big tackles. Powe added a tackle for a loss and helped stuff the middle. Chris Bowers even added two tackles. It all culminated when they stuffed Tebow's one yard forth and one play. The term "4th and one" has a much better meaning now in the Ole Miss Lexicon.

THE DUDE

The play of the day had to be Kentrell Lockett's PAT block. I turned out to be the scoring difference. Urban Meyer cried about how it was illegal. It wasn't. He didn't boost or hurdle. Florida was lazy and Lockett took advantage. He added a few big tackles and was in on a lot of the pressure that Tebow was under.

THE BAD

Snead is still struggling and suffered through another rough statistical day. Also threw a few more passes that went to nobody. Wouldn't be as big of a deal if he hadn't had such bad games in the last two. He only completed 9 passes which is in line with my suggestions from last week. Run the ball and hit the big play when its available which he did on the 83 yard touchdown to Shay Hodge. The Wildcat helped break it up so that he wouldn't have long periods being off.

Snead did make some big plays when he had to. The naked boot was a great run and he continues to show that he's a great running quarterback that's elusive in the pocket. He has the chance to be really good. For now if the team can limit his need to win the game and just let him manage it they can win some more big games. The majority of qb's in the rest of the league don't look ready to do that.

THE UGLY

After a win this big there is not a lot you could call ugly. Yeah the replay refs are still terrible and reversed a call for a change. This time to get it wrong.

The biggest issue this week is avoiding the let down and the cover jinx. The Rebels have to come out hungry against South Carolina and prove this wasn't a fluke. If they do we could be vacationing in either exotic Shreveport, Memphis, or Birmingham. Better call your travel agent today!