Matt Herod, sports editor at The Pacer, joins Grayson Weir of The Daily Mississippian to discuss Saturday’s matchup between Ole Miss and the University of Tennessee at Martin.
- One of the big stories from Ole Miss’ game was the impressive performance of quarterback, Shea Patterson. The big story of UTM’s win over Clarion was the shut out that the UTM defense delivered, only allowing 9 first downs and 53 passing yards the entire game. Will what makes or breaks this game be what happens between Shea Patterson vs. the UTM defense?
GW: I think absolutely, if the UTM defense can stop Shea Patterson, the Rebels will be in some trouble. But that’s the case with the majority of offenses in the nation with a stellar signal caller. Of course Shea is a different case, accounting for 435 yards total offense on his own last week. Being that UTM’s defense shined against a school like Clarion, I think he should still fair just fine, but certainly head coach Matt Luke and offensive coordinator Phil Longo both have been working to prepare for the hectic 3-3-5 defense all week.
- With the Ole Miss defense getting 1 sack and allowing 170 yards rushing, and UTM gaining 265 yards on the ground, how do you think coach Matt Luke will prepare for the rushing game?
GW: This is the biggest “what if?” factor going into Saturday. It’s clear that UTM’s offensive catalyst is coming out of the backfield in Ladarius Galloway. Coming off a struggle to stop South Alabama’s run game last week, it will be critical to get a push off the ball, and have our linebackers step up to make some tackles in the holes (which they did not last weekend). Coach Luke has made it clear that’s one of the areas the Rebels need to improve and is calling on the defense for more hits and more hats to the ball.
- UTM’s quarterback Troy Cook had 192 yards and 2 touchdowns, Ole Miss allowed barely more yards and only one touchdown in the air against South Alabama. What kind of stats do you think the Ole Miss defense will put up/hold Cook to?
GW: It’s a tale of two secondaries here in Oxford; there’s no real way of knowing whether the good, the bad, or the ugly is going to show up. While 192 yards and two touchdowns seem like a decent day at the office for our defensive backs, for those watching, it was clearly not. I think they’ll struggle a bit in the first half, but once they finally find their groove, Cook will find himself with very little room down field.
- Shea Patterson put up impressive numbers in the season opener. Did you see that coming and do you expect him to continue to play at that level or even better against UTM and ultimately the rest of the season?
GW: Shea is Shea. The #1 quarterback in the nation two years ago, the kid can ball. We’ve been waiting for the Shea Patterson era in Oxford for a minute now. While it came to us early, after Chad Kelly went down last fall, we saw sparks of greatness. Now it’s his team, he put up silly numbers in week one, and there’s no telling what he can do if he stays healthy.
- A.J. Brown is obviously a talented receiver. But do you think his impressive game was a byproduct of Patterson’s performance or can we expect to see him making a lot of big catches against UTM?
GW: What’s cool about our Nasty Wideouts (NWO), is that each and every one of our receivers could step up and have an AJ Brown vs. South Alabama-esque day. While I do think that Brown made quite the case to be the guy that Patterson leans on, (breaking the single game receiving record is no joke,) we very well could see each of the big, physical receivers come out and challenge one another’s records week in and week out.
- The rushing for Ole Miss against South Alabama wasn’t bad with 102 yards but those yards were very spread out among the tailbacks. Who can we expect to see carrying the ball for the majority of the game and who do you predict will be the guy for Ole Miss at the running back position going forward?
GW: Alongside tackling, this was a big point of emphasis in practice this week. Wilkins, Swinney and Pennamon all had fairly equivalent days on the ground last weekend, but it was clear that the run game was not the priority— which we knew coming in. That being said, when the ball was handed off, it looked good. All three backs were able to find holes and collectively average about four yards a carry. The shared touches will continue to be the case this week. While I think it’s likely that the air attack will continue to absorb the majority of the load, each of the three backs have earned their place and have given Luke and Longo the confidence to open it up a little more.
