What you may or may not know about OM's defense

[gravedigger]

I have watched their games this year pretty intently. I paid special attention to their defense. Here are some things I've picked up:

They are NOT the no talent porous defense we've faced vs Arkansas or the other non conference teams. McGriff gambles ALOT. His defense reminds me of Arkansas in 1998 when we beat them to essentially win the West. THey focus on run blitzes. They get gashed when they overload a side and the running play goes to the other or the offense calls a play that is perfectly set to block that called blitz.

Benito Jones is the real deal and if he isnt neutralized on a play he makes you pay. He plays so much faster than he looks.

Shepherd is a pretty good DE for them too.

The Vandy QB didnt throw the ball great last night, but he wasnt terrible either and OM was pretty good in pass defense at times.

Where they are vulnerable is in the Linebacker area of the field. IF they pull back to defend and the offense has called an underneath pass they get gashed. If they blitz and the qb gets rid of it quickly, it should go for a td.

I actually admire what McGriff has done lately. He's hidden their weakness about as much as he can.

But here is where State fans need to take notice. IF Nick cannot get rid of the ball quickly on pass plays or doesnt make the right read on run plays Ole Miss's defense will tear us alive. That's right. The defense that has gotten torched all season will look like the Steelers of the 1970s.

This game will almost entirely be on Nick and the Offensive line to control the Ole Miss blitz. We do, we win by 3 scores. We dont and it's anyone's guess who wins.

[msstate7]

Om is dead last in the sec in total def, passing def, rushing def, scoring def, and yards per play allowed.

S&P+ has them at #110; ark at 76th.

OM by every metic (advanced or conventional) is the worst defense in the sec and one of the worst in the country.

[beretta]

I completely agree with you.... they can be burned at times, and at times they look good....one thing i noticed last night is that they slowed down the offense....im guessing to give their defense a break....but they were for sure not going as fast as they have been going, and its working in their favor....the thing that i don't like about this egg bowl, is their offense is not a good matchup for our defense....similar to last year too....if they get off to a fast start at home, its not gonna be a good day for us....we outscore them in the 1st quarter or 1st half, we win easily....we get down at half, i don't like our chances...



I have watched their games this year pretty intently. I paid special attention to their defense. Here are some things I've picked up:

They are NOT the no talent porous defense we've faced vs Arkansas or the other non conference teams. McGriff gambles ALOT. His defense reminds me of Arkansas in 1998 when we beat them to essentially win the West. THey focus on run blitzes. They get gashed when they overload a side and the running play goes to the other or the offense calls a play that is perfectly set to block that called blitz.

Benito Jones is the real deal and if he isnt neutralized on a play he makes you pay. He plays so much faster than he looks.

Shepherd is a pretty good DE for them too.

The Vandy QB didnt throw the ball great last night, but he wasnt terrible either and OM was pretty good in pass defense at times.

Where they are vulnerable is in the Linebacker area of the field. IF they pull back to defend and the offense has called an underneath pass they get gashed. If they blitz and the qb gets rid of it quickly, it should go for a td.

I actually admire what McGriff has done lately. He's hidden their weakness about as much as he can.

But here is where State fans need to take notice. IF Nick cannot get rid of the ball quickly on pass plays or doesnt make the right read on run plays Ole Miss's defense will tear us alive. That's right. The defense that has gotten torched all season will look like the Steelers of the 1970s.

This game will almost entirely be on Nick and the Offensive line to control the Ole Miss blitz. We do, we win by 3 scores. We dont and it's anyone's guess who wins.

[Jacknut]

Agree. The Arkansas gameplan should work for this game, too.

[Pollodawg]

I completely agree with you.... they can be burned at times, and at times they look good....one thing i noticed last night is that they slowed down the offense....im guessing to give their defense a break....but they were for sure not going as fast as they have been going, and its working in their favor....the thing that i don't like about this egg bowl, is their offense is not a good matchup for our defense....similar to last year too....if they get off to a fast start at home, its not gonna be a good day for us....we outscore them in the 1st quarter or 1st half, we win easily....we get down at half, i don't like our chances...


Why is this offense not good for our defense? If Alabama struggled to move the ball on MSU (the best offense in the country) why would OM have any success? And, as for Benito Jones, he would be so much better if he’d drop
about 50lbs.

[msudawg1200]

Bullcrap. I?ve watched them a lot also. They are pathetic. They are giving up close to 500 yards a game. They let SO Illinois and ULM put up around 450. If we don?t put up over 550 yards and anywhere from 38-50 points on them there are no excuses. They are a poor defense that is poorly coached. Period.

[Willn1]

You do realize that UMiss has given up over 30 points in 8 of their 11 games. Tex Tech got 27:with a backup qb. Only Kent State and ULM were held below 27. If we don’t drop over 30... So is really wrong.

Also, against Bama, Auburn, and LSU... the top defenses they have face.... which are not better than our defense.... UMiss has not scored more than 16 points. They run up the score against lesser defenses and fold against real defenses.... kinda like we do offensively. If we play our game... we should win by 3td’s.

[Cooterpoot]

Digger on that UM tip. Just stop.

[Commercecomet24]

Unm defense is as slow as arkys defense and they also have some guys hurt. We play like we did yesterday and the score will be similar.

[Ari Gold]

If Benito declares which I think he will just wait till next year it will be worse talent wise.
But a DC with a pulse will help a lot.

[NCDawg]

We should never, ever, take Ole Miss lightly. I think we did last year and paid for it. I remember their no. 22 running right through our line past our highly recruited LB for 2 TD's, and AJ Brown beating our DB's all night. We need to be ready to play with an all out effort if we are going to win.

[Jarius]

It’s ok. Nothing you say on here has an impact on the game. You really don’t have to call them something they are not. They will be the worst SEC defense we have played all year. Period.

[Jarius]

We should never, ever, take Ole Miss lightly. I think we did last year and paid for it. I remember their no. 22 running right through our line past our highly recruited LB for 2 TD's, and AJ Brown beating our DB's all night. We need to be ready to play with an all out effort if we are going to win.

Well you remember incorrectly. They intentionally injured our quarterback and we had 5 turnovers. That is the only reason we lost that game. Period. Our defense held them to 31 points after our offense gave them 5 extra possessions. They played fine. You can?t expect anyone to hold a team down after giving them 5 extra possessions.

[bulldawg28]

Why is this offense not good for our defense? If Alabama struggled to move the ball on MSU (the best offense in the country) why would OM have any success? And, as for Benito Jones, he would be so much better if he?d drop
about 50lbs.

Preach!

[gravedigger]

Well you remember incorrectly. They intentionally injured our quarterback and we had 5 turnovers. That is the only reason we lost that game. Period. Our defense held them to 31 points after our offense gave them 5 extra possessions. They played fine. You can?t expect anyone to hold a team down after giving them 5 extra possessions.

Why wasn?t our qb and coach able to move the ball before he got hurt?

[thf24]

Why wasn?t our qb and coach able to move the ball before he got hurt?

Didn't Fitz get hurt on our third possession? Didn't get a chance to get a lot going. He wouldn't have turned it over three times either.

[Turfdawg67]

It’s ok. Nothing you say on here has an impact on the game. You really don’t have to call them something they are not. They will be the worst SEC defense we have played all year. Period.

No, that happened yesterday.

[Turfdawg67]

Why wasn?t our qb and coach able to move the ball before he got hurt?

Maybe the same reasons we didn't look all that good in the first qtr yesterday. It's called emotions.

[TNDawg35]

I also watched their game last night. So
Something I noticed on the offensive side was a lot of times 5-0 just through a a deep ball up and let’s the wideout run under it. If our DBs can turn their head on those and find the balcon, they are easy pics.
- take away the deep ball. Put 2 safety’s up top.
- blitz the shot out of them and 5-0 will crumble.
- make tackles and we shit them down. A lot of their bigs plays last night we’re missed tackles on the WR on a short pass...

[lastmajordog]

Emory Ballard, JWS and ESPECIALLY Dan Mullen proved NUMEROUS TIMES EACH what overlooking or thinking this game will be anything short of a vicious war will get your Bull ‘DOG' arss whipped. Throw in Hit contracts on the DOG Qb, tornadic wind blast, BIASED official calls, or just plain luck......this is the ONLY game and you better believe you can lose with anything less than a total effort.....Even Matt Luke hobbled on a blown knee and fought like H*** for a last minute drive (thanks prevent defense) to whip Jackie..he knows what it takes............It will take a total game effort and smart coaching adjustments to come out with a win.....Do NOT overlook this team.....

[BiscuitEater]

The Arkansas gameplan should work for this game, too.

Also agree and OM should be winless in the SEC. Arky got out coached by Matt 'doofus' Luke.

[dotcomdawg]

....the thing that i don't like about this egg bowl, is their offense is not a good matchup for our defense....

You are basing that line of thinking on many of the concerns we had in August. We assumed that the defensive backfield was going to be our weakness. That hasn't been the case.

The concern-- then-- would have been Ole Miss is going to burn us with big plays.

We haven't been burned by big plays this year. What was the biggest play against our defense this year? Without pulling up stat sheets, and to my recollection, the best answer I can come up with was a 47ish-yard play yesterday. Maybe there are more, but I can't think of them now.

Our defense has been solid across the board. Just watch what relentless pressure is going to do to Ta'amu.

[Goldendawg]

We better be ready. They always are and will do anything to win. Expect a low shot on Nick early that will make the brawl the year Wes Shivers got sucker punched out of uniform look like a child's birthday party. Hail State! P.S. Expect the SEC to assign a highly rated crew to referee the game. NOT!!!

[Really Clark?]

You are basing that line of thinking on many of the concerns we had in August. We assumed that the defensive backfield was going to be our weakness. That hasn't been the case.

The concern-- then-- would have been Ole Miss is going to burn us with big plays.

We haven't been burned by big plays this year. What was the biggest play against our defense this year? Without pulling up stat sheets, and to my recollection, the best answer I can come up with was a 47ish-yard play yesterday. Maybe there are more, but I can't think of them now.

Our defense has been solid across the board. Just watch what relentless pressure is going to do to Ta'amu.

Your correct, yesterday’s 47 yard pass play was the longest this season

[Todd4State]

The reason AJ Brown had a good day last year was because Grantham thought that JT Gray could cover him apparently. We should have a DB on him- even if it's Smitherman this time around.

But I agree- the biggest thing is don't turn the ball over like we did and also don't go full out conservative like Dan did after Nick got hurt. Last year was a perfect storm. We probably beat them 9 out of 10 times last year and for the 1 time to happen everything that had to happen did last year.

We're better defensively this year and we have a safer scheme than Grantham's which will help prevent big plays. But at the same time the scheme doesn't forgo aggressiveness. Having Nick healthy will help plus if by chance he gets hurt again Key is better than he was last year and we aren't built around the QB run- meaning they're going to have to hurt the A-Train and Kylin too. Which I'm sure they will try to do.

[Commercecomet24]

Your correct, yesterday’s 47 yard pass play was the longest this season

Secondary play has been better than I've seen since the smoot/bean days. Even when someone goes down the next guy up has been getting it done. Shoop has done great work with that secondary. By the way anyone see a reception on Cam yesterday? You never hear his name called cause no one ever catches a pass on him.

[Jarius]

Why wasn?t our qb and coach able to move the ball before he got hurt?

We had the ball for one and a half possessions before fitz was injured in the first quarter. Are you being for real?

[RiverCityDawg]

You forgot to add that they have a ton of missed assignments a game and are a very poor tackling group. They're also thin and slow. Benito Jones is very good except when he takes plays off, which he does often. If we don't turn the ball over we will score 40+.

[Really Clark?]

Secondary play has been better than I've seen since the smoot/bean days. Even when someone goes down the next guy up has been getting it done. Shoop has done great work with that secondary. By the way anyone see a reception on Cam yesterday? You never hear his name called cause no one ever catches a pass on him.

I agree. Shoop (secondary is his specialty) and the assistants have done a great job with the secondary. Cam has been as shit down as you can ask for this season. Usually the only time you hear his name called is in run support and he’s a good tackler against the run also.